Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! While lovers celebrate their affection with gifts of flowers and chocolates, and with dates, a husband and wife have collaborated to accomplish one of the most special #couplegoals: write a book of poetry together.
Former Cebu Regional Trial Court Judge Simeon Dumdum, Jr., an accomplished author and a Palanca Award-winning writer, has teamed up with his wife, Ma. Milagros “Gingging” T. Dumdum, who is also an author, to write a poetry collection entitled The Sigh of a Hundred Leaves. Mr. and Mrs. Dumdum are published poets and have been writing poetry individually for decades.
Their book is released and distributed by San Anselmo Publications, Inc., publisher of Jim Pascual Agustin’s How to Make a Salagubang Helicopter & other poems which was shorlisted for a National Book Award, and the bestselling books Confessions of an Ex-Jesuit by Dr. Ibarra Gonzalez, Servant Leader: Leni Robredo written by Prof. Ed Garcia and edited by Danton Remoto, and Top 20 Changes to the Rules of Civil Procedure & Revised Rules on Evidence by Atty. Noel Oliver Punzalan.
The Sigh of a Hundred Leaves contains 100 renga poems. Renga is poetry of Japanese origin and features alternating stanzas from two separate poets; it is composed of only five. Reading renga is akin to listening to a convesation. In the case of Simeon and Gingging’s verses, the effect is an engaging “he said, she said,” exchange.
As Mr. Dumdum explains in the book’s introduction, “In this work, my wife Gingging and I agreed that she should write the hokku or the first three lines, and I the waki or the suceeding two lines.” According to the retired judge, he and his wife treated the endeavor as a chess game. “She would make a move and I would make a countermove.”
The result is a friendly competition among the spouses. “Always, she strove for a checkmate,” Mr. Dumdum says of Gingging. “But somehow, I managed to avoid capture. The process kept the writing moving and lively,” he adds good-naturedly.
The spouses (who have been married for 20 years) wrote the poems over a period of a few months before the pandemic, while dining in coffee shops in Cebu City, and while traveling in Japan. Their words take the reader to journeys to beautiful churches, rivers, and gardens; through days and nights of rain, bonfires and clouds; and on paths scented by jasmine, chrysanthemum and other flowers.
To complement the book’s Japanese theme, San Anselmo Publications, Inc., commissioned young Filipino-Japanese artist Mariko E. Nakamura, a Fine Arts graduate of University of Sto. Tomas, to design the book. To avail of The Sigh of a Hundred Leaves, send a message to the San Anselmo Publications, Inc. Facebook page. Each copy of The Sigh of a Hundred Leaves comes with a free bookmark of the customer’s choice among ten different designs, with an option to buy all of the designs as well.
