Mr. Vince Agcaoili, a faculty member of the Department of Literature of the College of Arts and Sciences, won 2nd place at the 2023 Maningning Miclat Award for Poetry last September 27.

His winning collection, "Opening," received high praise from Filipina poet Grace Monte de Ramos, who captured its essence in the citation below:

“‘We’re all walking in a museum of grief and are given options: To let the works themselves speak to you and make you so little or let the curator’s labels explain them. I’m hearing the timbre of the doctor’s voice, and I’m choosing to be shattered.’

Thus speaks the persona in ‘Fragments’, one of the poems in ‘Opening’, a collection which explores grief intensely and extensively; that is to say, choosing to be shattered. The first lines of the first poem declare ‘When they closed the casket, I opened / My heart’, referencing the death of a beloved grandfather, and from there the poet tackles ‘the cascade of pain’ that comes with the loss not just of loved ones, but also the sorrows arising from lost opportunities, absentee parents, abandoned homes, and blasted loves, in the process excavating a range of emotions – rage, resentment, guilt, regret, loneliness – that death unearths in the heart of the bereaved. Everything is personal, each detail specific to the persona, but to anyone who knows loss, these poems resonate keenly. After all, ‘Each heart is full of holes’.

Writing about grief, of course, betrays the need to understand. That the poet has found the language to articulate his grief so seductively is perhaps the first step out of the museum of grief and into acceptance and eventually towards healing and peace.

I close with the lines from the poet himself:

‘I look into your eyes, and I’m winning / A battle inside my heart. I think now you are teaching me / How much wound the earth can take, how much / Hurting it swallows in birthing trees. I suppose / This is how we say goodbye. I will have to bury you / In poems and nurse you for the days of my life.’”

In addition, Mr. Agcaoili's selected poems, "Animal," "After This Rain," "Incarnare," "Field," and "Fragments," have been published in the 6th issue of the Santelmo Literary Journal, which features contributions from prominent figures in contemporary Filipino writing, including National Artists in Literature Dr. Gemino Abad and Virgilio Almario. A copy of the issue can be obtained here.

Mr. Vince Agcaoili (center) as he receives his award.