Description:
A collection of poems compiled and published while JMS was imprisoned. The poems were written when he was behind bars with the exception of a few selections from "Brothers and Other Poems".
Editions:
1st edition: 1984 (Free Jose Maria Sison Committee)
2nd edition: 1986 (Free Jose Maria Sison Committee)
3rd edition: 2001 (Aklat ng Bayan)
Translations:
Tagalog Translation: 2004 (by Gelacio Y. Guillermo Jr.)
Quotes about book:
"A critic once observed that the poetry of Teresa of Avila is suffused with God. In an analogous way, the poetry of Sison is suffused with the idea of revolution. Even the purely descriptive poems, or those which appear to be simply exercises in wit and metaphor, nature or objects or situations inevitably relate themselves to certain aspects of the revolutionary struggle. In that now famous single piece, “The Guerilla Is Like a Poet” even the techniques and tactics of the creative process is turned into possibilities and postures of revolutionary armed struggle.”
- Petronilo Bn. Daroy in "Literature to Revolution" (1984)
"In the 30-stanza 'Fragments of a Nightmare,' which is written from a first-person perspective, the persona talks of being made by 'demons' into a punching bag, of being threatened with death or more inhuman treatment, even of being cajoled into running 'for an assembly/Of demons.' The persona does not identify himself and the poem has been the subject of dispute in certain literary circles, but one thing is clear: the 'I' speaking in 'Fragments of a Nightmare' is none other than Sison himself, as may be gleaned from the book The Philippine Revolution: The Leader’s View as well as Grace B. Salita’s interview with him last year for her masteral thesis at De La Salle University. The 'demons' are his tormentors and others he considers the enemies of the Filipino people."
- Alexander Martin Remollino in "Poetry and Revolution: Behind Bars and Beyond" (2004)
First Year of Publication: 1984
Publisher: Quezon City: Free Jose Maria Sison Committee
Contributing Authors: Edilberto Alegre (Editor)
Extent: 130 p.
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