By correcting normative spelling to be the more accurate “Woeman,” T. De Los Reyes speaks Truth. The He in one poem reminds, “You can’t spell meaning without the word man.” Truthfully, one can’t spell “meaning” without the word “mean” and too often the adjective is not for significance so much as it is for anguish. These poems reveal pain as the condition precedent to too much, including holiness, beauty and awakening. Synchronistically, the poems’ internal music makes, say, “desire” rhyme with “bonsai,” a tree whose growth requires being controlled. It is no wonder that when you “Think Vesuvius,” you have these poems which reveal why “It takes a lot to love the world.”

— Eileen R. Tabios, poet, critic, and author of The Thorn Rosary: Selected Prose Poems & New 1998-2010

 

Published by Hawai’i Review (2018) • Cover design by Myka Arnado • Cover Photography by Zach Aldave