Alegria Imperial

Alegria was born i n the northernmost region of the Philippines archipelago. She wasn't aware she crafts words bilingually until she attended writing workshops in New York. Winning honors in a haiku and poetry contest, she nonetheless deems as higher honor the publication of her poems and haiku in Iluko, the dialect she was born with but hardly used as an adult (Iluko is one of four major dialects in 87 spoken in the Philippine archipelago, among them, Tagalog, out of which Philipino, the national language, was derived).

Awards and Other Honors: Honorable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational (2007); Honorable Mention, Passager Poetry Contest (2007); Featured and Critiqued Poems: "Light as Magic" (winningwriters.com, December 2006) and "Riddle" (winningwriters.com, October 2008).

Books Published: Points in Time: The Ordinary in Celebrated Lives, the Heroic in Ordinary Lives (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House: Manila, Philippines, 2006); Mythogyny: the Lives and Times of Women Elders in BC [editors: Elsie Dean, Alegria Imperial, Jan Westlund, Sandi Wingrove] (Women Elders in Action: Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2009).

cherry tree
shedding petals at dusk-
moths in flight

pulled strands
of rice grain
tear drops

stones
on the riverbank
dawn flowers

rustle
of leaves
sun set

billows
at high tide
your whispers

pine strand
flailing in night sky-
the first low star

Credits: "cherry tree" - Honourable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival haiku competition (2007); "stones" - Lynx XXIV [publication includes Iluko version] (February 1, 2009); "billows" - Lynx XXIV [publication includes Iluko version] (February 1, 2009); "pulled strands" - Lynx XXIV [publication includes Iluko version] (February 1, 2009); "rustle" - Lynx XXIV [publication includes Iluko version] (February 1, 2009); "pine strand" - Lynx XXIII (October 3, 2008) [from sequence: "Route"].