By Marivir R. Montebon
Poetry must sing – Luis Francia said in describing how Jose Garcia Villa mentored him.
New York – At age 34, literary stalwart Jose Garcia Villa, poet, critic, short story writer, and painter, would have been the first Filipino to win a Pulitzer, breaking the record of three-time winner American poet Robert Frost. He has written remarkably well to win a Pulitzer, believed many of the judges of the literary society at Columbia – said Ms. Elda Rotor, vice president and publisher of the Penguin Classics here in a tribute to Garcia-Villa in time for the Filipino American History Month.
Elda Rotor: Their existence lies in their works being read.
But on the following year, 1943, the literary society, dominated by white men, still chose Frost to win for the fourth time. Garcia-Villa and Gwendolyn Brooks, a black woman, have been under scrutiny and were by-passed, because of – well, racial discrimination.
During the tribute for Garcia-Villa on October 24, 2018 at the Philippine Center, Rotor had once again emphasized the increased demand for diversity in the realm of poetry and literature. Eighty-seven percent of published authors are white and only 2% are Asians. “We need to disrupt this gate-keeping with similar boldness,” she said.
Rotor’s position as vice president for Penguin Classics is a major achievement among Asians in mainstream America. She encouraged the audience to keep reading the works of Filipino authors, placing on a pedestal Dr. Jose Rizal, Nick Joaquin, and Jose Garcia Villa as the three most important and beautiful writers that the Philippines has produced.
“Their existence lies in their work that are being read,” said Rotor.
Consul General Claro Cristobal set the tone for the evening, quoting Garcia-Villa’s requisites of a poem: a poem must be magical, musical.
Manila-born Garcia-Villa moved in the US in 1930 and he used his prize money of one thousand pesos to migrate. His work, Mir-i-Nisa won Best Story of the Year by the Philippine Free Press magazine.
He studied at the University of New Mexico where he founded a literary magazine Clay. Garcia-Villa later did post-graduate work at Columbia University. He worked as an Associate Editor at the New Directions Publishing from 1920-1960 and taught poetry workshops at the New School for Social Research from 1964-1973.
A surrealist and modernist, Garcia-Villa’s famous works include Footnote to Youth, The Emperor’s New Sonnet, and The Anchored Angel. His contemporaries include Kurt Vonnegut and Tennessee Williams.
Garcia-Villa used the pen name Doveglion and his first US collection of poems, Have come, am Here (1942) was published by Viking and received critical acclaim. Volume Two, published in 1949, was awarded the Bollingen Prize.
Garcia-Villa received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Poetry Award, the Shelley Memorial Award, and the Guggenheim, Bollingen, and Rockefeller fellowships for poetry. He was named National Artist for Literature in the Philippine in 1973.
He died on February 7, 1997 in New York.
Francia: His favorite word was crap. His workshops were not for those with fragile egos.
Two of Garcia-Villa’s students, Prof. Luis Francia of Hunter College and the New York University, and Mr. Jack Lynch, poet and professor emeritus of the City University of New York, fondly remembered him during the evening tribute.
“He was an intimidating person. His remark of your work or anything – crap! If your ego was fragile, you won’t last in his workshops,” recalled Francia.
Poetry must sing, said Francia said in describing how Garcia-Villa mentored him. “Meaning is not the purpose of poetry. It is arrived at rather than began with. Poetry is language and lyric. It is written with words, not ideas. It is about the use of language. It has to have a strong first line and grab you by the color. It is about the pleasure principle. It has to be sexy, an essential seduction,” Francia said.
He said that he got his job as a writer for the now defunct Village Voice because of Garcia-Villa who was a reference person.
Lynch: He saved my life and taught me to eat Chinese food.
According to Francia, the editor had asked if his reference was Garcia-Villa, the poet. When he answered on the affirmative, he was immediately given the position.
Jack Lynch said that Garcia-Villa saved his life. “I was not accepted in my job as a teacher in Queens. I felt truly sad. A friend of mine advised me to attend the workshops of Garcia-Villa. I am glad that I did. I developed my poetry and in time, I was lucky to get reinstated through my union.”
Lynch remembered that Garcia-Villa would always take them to Chinese restaurants in his neighborhood. Asked if he was at first uncomfortable having a Filipino for a poetry teacher, he said, no not at all. “He was great.”
(Featured photo: Jose Garcia Villa 1943, Google photo)
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