Memoirs

eBookfrom Amazon: “Hey Joe” – Poems and Stories from the Peace Corps
Paperback from Amazon: http://tiny.cc/1dilvw
Paperback from CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/4178119
Paperbackfrom Barnes&Noble: http://tiny.cc/eri4tw

Read review by P. David Searles on PeaceCorpsWorldwide. http://tiny.cc/cpl6xw

Get something to drink, take a nice comfy seat and settle down for the trip of your life. You’ve never experienced anything like this – Culture Shock! “Hey Joe” was a greeting of affection Filipinos had for Americans – and still do.

Have you ever lived in another country for any length of time? I spent two years on the remote island of Romblon in the Philippines as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 1968-1970. It is amazing what a difference it makes to actually live in a different culture than to simply visit as a tourist.

Child
   a-l-o-n-e
   upon the beach
gaze out upon the blue tableau
   endless
      waving back at you
      lapping at your feet
      sinking in the sand
         between your toes

b

Join me for my first day in Romblon with images, people, sounds and odors overwhelming me. See me dine on unimaginable things – especially in the poem “Love Potion”. Learn how I earned my nickname “Puti Iboy”.

Relax in the “Garden Beyond My Window”

Hibiscus blossoms scented
   flowers flood the trellis
      old orchids are in bloom
Cacophany of colors
   shapes and mingled odors
      extract me from my room

Remember the Greek cynic philosopher Diogenes who walked in daylight with a lantern looking for an honest man and never found him? Well I did. He carried my bags off a boat outside a slum in Manila – read “The Tip”.

Experience my bewilderment as I witness the stone-age tribe in my poem “People on the Rock”

Stark dark naked bodies shining
   people on the rock
Gazing skyward can’t believe you
   people on the rock
Do you see us as we see you
   people on the rock

It was the era of the Vietnam War – Woodstock – the first man landing on the moon. Everything I took as a given was challenged. My pre-conceived ideas of life, community, family and friendship were turned inside out, shaken apart, dismantled and reassembled. I was advantaged and was going to live with those who were less so. First hand in the “third world” was going to be a shocker.

This is a collection of poems and stories about my experience. You will be learning some of the local dialect along with me as you read.

So come larga (sail) with me on a banca (outrigger canoe) across the Sibuyan Sea to the malayo (remote) isla (island) of Romblon in the Philippines. Take your siya (chair) at the lamisa (table) as my new panimalay (family) and I enjoy our panyaga (lunch) of kanon (cooked rice), isda (fish), utanon (vegetables), fried saging (banana) and tubig (water). Meet my host Nana Lola. Lakat (walk) down the dalan (street) with me as I join my migas (friends) Manny, Louie and Popeye to drink tuba (fermented coconut milk).

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed living it.

If you would like to learn more about the US Peace Corps, here is their official website:
http://www.peacecorps.gov/
And here is a website of returned volunteers:
http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/

Here are some photos from Romblon/

My balay (house)
Romblon, Philippines

St. Joseph’s Iglesya and Rizal Statue

Boats in the harbor at the “Binirary” festival

Revelers at the “Binirary” festival

View of Manuel Roxas street from my home.
The vehicle is one of the motorcycle sidecar “taxis”

View of Romblon from the atup (roof) of my boarding house