AFTER the celebration of National Poetry Day in late 2022, National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario has released a revised edition of Jose Corazon de Jesus: Mga Piling Tula. Edited by Almario and published by San Anselmo Press, the collection features 200+ pages of de Jesus' Tagalog poems, including the popular "Ang Pagbabalik," "Ang Pamana," "Ang Manok Kong Bulik," "Ang Bato," "Barong Tagalog", the poem-turned-patriotic anthem "Bayan Ko," and other works. Jose Corazon de Jesus was a writer-performer who was dubbed as the Philippines' "poet of the 20th century," and "first king of poetry jousts (Balagtasan)."
Almario opens the volume with a 34-page updated essay entitled "Mga Kuwintas ng Bituin at Luha," wherein the National Artist looks back at the life and works of de Jesus. Almario has made tweaks to the 1984 edition (e.g., spelling, choices of poems, etc.) in order to make the collection more relevant and appealing to contemporary readers.
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