Eileen R. Tabios

Eileen Tabios was born in Ilocos Sur, Philippines in 1960. She moved to the United States when she was 10 years old. She acquired a B.A. in Political Science at Barnard College, and also acquired a M.B.A. in Economy and International Business from New York University Graduate School of Business. She worked as a banker for nearly a decade. Her last corporate career involved with international project finance. Before working as a banker, she worked as an economist, journalist, and a stock market analyst. She believes that these prior careers allowed her to be able to address a wide variety of topics. She stated: "I think they all provided training for poetry". Although she was involved in many other careers before becoming a poet, she believed that poetry was the most difficult act she's ever participated in. And it is poetry that has her interest more than any of her other careers. She became a full-time poet in 1996 and moved to a California castle to focus and dedicate her life to poetry. She has a big tonal range within her poetry work. As well her writing her own poetry, she edits and co-edits others poetry as well.

I chose Eileen because I am not aware of any Filipino poets. When i first searched up "Asian American poets" on Google, I was surprised to actually have found a Filipino poet. Although she was one of many other poets among a list that I have found, I knew from the beginning that I wanted to read her work. From then, I began researching her already. What amazed me even more was that she was born in the same region my parents were born and raised up in- Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Though I can understand and (somewhat) read Ilocano, Eileen does not have any poetry in Ilocano. My late grandfather was a poet himself; I read one of his Ilocano poem that was dedicated to my grandmother and it was quite impressive! It would be awesome if she had some poetry in Ilocano but it is understandable since she came to the U.S. at a young age and probably has forgotten the language.

I was able to buy one of her books "The Light Sang As It Left Your Eyes: Our Autobiography". The book is filled with so much poems that the whole book is almost 360 pages. Throughout the book, she is writing about her father, Filamore B. Tabios Sr., who died due to brain cancer. The book reflects how she grieves her father's death, showing how the death of a parent can be a very stressful and difficult experience. This book is also one of her most political work yet. She has a poem entitled "Marcos Baby". For those who don't know- Ferdinand Marcos was a president of the Philippines during the time Eileen was growing up. Although the book is mainly about her father's death and their biography together, Eileen sees the book as her testament for joy- "that she would cease writing this book only after she resurrected her father".

I will edit as soon as I read more specific poems by Eileen.

--Abby