An Afternoon at AACP

It was a tiny group at AACP, but the vibe was pleasant and the food was good and, really, what more can you ask? Marianne Villanueva successfully lightened the load of Going Home books in her rolling suitcase, and that is always good news.

Oscar Peñaranda was MIA (he sent his regrets via T'boli publisher Eduardo Datangel), leaving me to wonder what in the world Barbara Jane, Eileen, Jean, Michelle and Leny did to him at the embassy on Friday evening? But it was such fun to meet the delightful Liza Erpelo who teaches English and coordinates the Kababayan Program at Skyline College. At one point she made me laugh uncontrollably in the middle of someone else's reading (Lord, what bad form...), and it reminded me of when my cousin Jodi used to--on purpose!--sing inordinately loud and off-key at Mass until I laughed so hard the pew started to shake.

Then there was the trio of mighty manangs from FAHNS with old-school Bay Area stories to share. And I am so pleased to say that I now know poet Tony Robles, whose relaxed reading style I admire. It's like catching up with an old friend at a cafe and letting your coffee grow cold (I don't drink coffee, but that's entirely beside the point...) because you're too busy listening to bother taking a sip. I hope he doesn't mind that I'm about to share a poem that poet and teacher Nick Carbo particularly enjoyed in 2001:

Ode to the Sandwich Makers
by Tony Robles

In the financial district
the construction never
stops

concrete slabs, frozen
tongues piled silently
high

held in place by
unseen
foundation

Papers stacked
and shredded

confetti on the 1st

In the midst of this
stone graveyard is
a deli

12 noon, the
line snakes from
the door

Inside, 7 sandwich
makers behind
a glass counter

all Asian

NEXT PLEASE!
NEXT PLEASE!

With the grace of
a blackjack dealer,
they stack the salami,
ham, cheese

on bread of

white, brown, sour,
or wheat

Any sandwich, any way
you like it

Meat piled thick
mayo
mustard

sealed with
strokes of
sunlight

non-stop,
constructed
perfectly with care

The line
moving quickly
like at the
racetrack

These dealers,
these sandwich
makers

these builders

Taking the order

constructing
buildings of
bread

among the
stones

~~~

And I picked up two copies of The Forbidden Book which, as others have pointed out, is stunning. I think it's appropriate that it's not easy to get your hands on it; it's forbidden, after all.

Anyways, if you're heading down the peninsula, stop in at AACP and let Leonard and Florence show you around. Good people, them.