Hoodlum Birds

by Gloria, Eugene (Author)

• ISBN13: 9780143036449
• ISBN10: 0143036440
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-28
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)

Summary

The second collection from the award-winning Filipino American poet In Eugene Gloria’s acclaimed first collection of poems, Drivers at the Short-Time Motel, ephemeral lives, and souls lost in the tattered fabric of war, displacement, and ruined love, found hope, redemption, and a common voice. Gloria is interested in illustrating the common man’s search for connection to the self and to the world, and that is very much apparent in his second collection. The speaker of these poems examines his lapsed Roman Catholic identity and his past; Spain, and its long and varied influence on Filipino culture; and the famous pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. These new poems build on what Gloria began in his first book by continuing this sense of collaboration with literary and cultural influence.

Author Biography

Eugene Gloria was born in Manila, Philippines, and raised in San Francisco. His first collection of poetry, Drivers at the Short-Time Motel, was a winner of the 1999 National Poetry Series. He teaches at DePauw University.

Table of Contents

Afterwards	1	(4)
PART 1
The Law	5	(2)
Song in the Form of a White Suit	7	(2)
Ardor	9	(2)
Obedience	11	(2)
Goodness	13	(2)
Boabdil's Eviction	15	(1)
Mojácar	16	(2)
Bilbao, Spain	18	(5)
The Factory	23	(4)
PART 2
Economy	27	(2)
Female Figure (Sibyl with Erasure)	29	(2)
The Verb to Lick	31	(2)
Martyrdom of St. Eulalia	33	(2)
Hoodlum Birds	35	(1)
El Ave Christina	36	(2)
Sleeping with Butler's Lives of the Saints	38	(5)
Motet	43	(4)
PART 3
Aubade	47	(2)
Two Blondes and a Turquoise Cadillac	49	(2)
Allegra with Spirit	51	(2)
Beauty	53	(2)
Reno	55	(2)
These Hands	57	(2)
Flash Elorde	59	(2)
The Block	61	(4)
The Idea of North	65	(4)
PART 4
Suddenly October	69	(1)
Rabbits	70	(2)
One Train	72	(3)
The Beheading of the Apostle James	75	(2)
My Bad Uncle	77	(2)
Blue Sky with Thieves	79	(2)
Honor Loam	81	(2)
Notes	83	(1)
Acknowledgments	84