Admirable Fresh Poetry

First collections of poetry naturally serve as early indications of literary worth, often beyond promise.

- Alfred A. Yuson

My introduction to Alyza Taguilaso's poems was her submission for Santelmo: Liwanag sa Dilim, well over a year ago, among many other draft manuscripts in English. I didn't know or hadn't heard of her at all, but immediately marked her entries as eminently acceptable.

Her bionote said she was "a resident doctor training in General Surgery." The same bionote now appears in her debut collection, Juggernaut, published by University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2024. Additionally, "Her poems have been shortlisted for contests like the Manchester Poetry Prize and Bridport Poetry Prize, and have been published in several publications, including Electric Literature, Crazy Horse, The Deadlands, Canthius, Fantasy Magazine, Strange Horizons, Nightmare Magazine, Orbis Journal, Voice and Verse, and Luna Journal PH, among others. You may find her online via Wordpress (@alyzataguilastorm), Instagram (@ventral), and Twitter (@lalalalalalyza)." She's also attended several national writers' workshops.

Looking back at it now, somehow I'm assured that while I may not have kept up with recent online exchanges among our younger poets, erstwhile unfamiliarity with Taguilaso's work didn't deter an objective eye from welcoming fresh poetry with a high degree of appreciation. It wasn't until much later that communication with younger poet-friends confirmed the levels of admiration and support for her poems.

How can it not be so, when her assured articulation is exemplified by such lines as the following, from her long poem "Surgery" which appeared in a subsequent issue of Santelmo: