INVITATION TO A POSTCARD EXCHANGE

 If you send me a postcard, I'll send one back. Postcards can be handmade or commercially picked up during your travels or other activities. I'm open to international exchanges. Send to

Eileen Tabios

P.O. Box 361

Saint Helena, CA 94574

USA

If you send a postcard, I may reproduce either or both sides of the card unless you say otherwise. I will hide your address, though please be sure to make it legible for a return card from me. The postcard may be mailed as is or within an envelope.

Postcards Received 

(alphabetical list updated over time as exchanges occur):

You can see the Postcards I sent back HERE.

Anonymous, (Austin, Texas--location based on postmark)

Tom Beckett, Kent, Ohio (The Inaugural Postcard Exchange, July 2025)

Meredith Caliman, Torrance, California

Catalina Cariaga, Oakland, California

Aileen Cassinetto, San Mateo, California

Rodrigo Dela Pena, Jr., Singapore

Ulysses Duterte, Hayward, California

Alex Gildzen(i), Palm Springs, California

Alex Gildzen(ii), Palm Springs, California

Sandy Hansen, Torrance, California

Barbara and Harry Lee, Gig Harbor, Washington

Michael Leong, Columbus, Ohio

Richard Lopez, Sacramento, California

Scott MacLeod, Austin, Texas

Mini Micu Mahfoud, Fresno, California

Marie Yvette Pantilla-Carpio, Makati, Philippines

Barbara Jane Reyes & Oscar Bermeo, Oakland, California

Jaime Robles, San Leandro, California

Rachielle Sheffler(i), San Diego, California

Rachielle Sheffler (ii), San Diego, California

Leny Strobel, Santa Rosa, California

Joel Vega, Arnhem, The Netherlands

Jean Vengua, Monterey, California

Marianne Villanueva, Redwood City, California

POSTINGS TO COME:

Jeannie Celestial, California

Luisa A. Igloria, Norfolk, Virginia

~

I'm grateful to Haiku Pause (editor Resa Alboher) for publishing a version of this postcard with a haiku I wrote for my dogs Achilles, Gabriela, Athena, Ajax, Neo, and Nova:

SEARCHING, EILEEN SENDS POSTCARDS

 To Tom Beckett (Kent, Ohio), July 2025:

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To Rachielle Sheffler (San Diego, California), July 2025:

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To Ella deCastro Baron (La Mesa, California), July 2025:

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To Sandy Hansen (Torrance, California), July 2025:

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To Mini Mac Mahfoud (Fresno, CA), July 2025:

Text of Card:

Dear Mini,

It’s lovely to hear of your expanded family which you took to a European holiday. Because your family is large, you made me think of the concepts of “bounty,” then “quantity.” So I thought I’d share a new poem “Monostich (i).” A monostich is a one-line poem. This is inspired by the concept of a large number, like your family—I hope you like it:

 

Monostich (i)

 

Stars outnumber even mosquitoes

 

 

Have a great summer!

Eileen

~

To Jean Vengua (Monterey, California), July 2025:

I have a lot of respect for poet-artist Jean Vengua, and thought she would comprehend the message of my hay(na)ku poem (whether or not she agrees):

 

POETICS (2025)

 

I 

age into

form, not content

~

To Leny Strobel (Santa Rosa, California), July 2025:

Since Leny Strobel and the Center for Babaylan Studies introduced me to the Filipino indigenous trait of “kapwa,” I’m glad our postcard exchange allows me to share my “kapwa-tid” poem that was published as part of the artist France Viana’s efforts to add the pronoun “siya” to the Oxford English Dictionary. Be Kapwa!

~

To Aileen Cassinetto (San Mateo, California), July 2025:

Of course I had to response to Aileen’s postcard with its “American Sentence” poetry form with my own such sentence: 

Color is a Narrative: The Black Rose

 

White reveals marriage leads one to become widowed from one’s self.

 

**

A Background to creating my poem for Aileen:

 

My novel The Balikbayan Artist (Penguin Random House SEA, 2024) features chapters beginning with color-related meditations. I thought I’d mine those meditations for something I can turn into an American Sentence. I opted for the meditation that begins Chapter 19: “The artist thought, ‘Colour doesn’t control its meaning. White is worn by widows in South Asia. Thus, white can imply to marry is to become widowed from one’s self.’”

 

This particular meditation made me consider something I’ve long observed: color is a narrative. Thus, I wrote my poem which I first structured as a haiku before deleting line-breaks to create an American Sentence. Since the American Sentence is a minimalist form, I thought the haiku—which is even more compressed due to its line-breaks—might help me push the minimalism:

 

Color is a Narrative

 

White reveals marriage 

leads one to become widowed 

from one’s self.

 

I turned the poem into an American Sentence but because it began as a haiku, I wanted to incorporate some element of nature. So I thought of the black rose which I’d once read doesn’t really exist in nature. I thought the black rose would be apt for the poem’s persona turning away from its true self. So I edited the sentence to look like

 

Color is a Narrative

 

White reveals marriage leads one to become widowed from one’s self—like a black rose.

 

Still, I wasn’t happy with the ending. It feels artificial to me. But I still wanted a reference to nature through the rose. I ended up then with this final (for now) version which moves the reference to the title:

 

Color is a Narrative—The Black Rose

 

White reveals marriage leads one to become widowed from one’s self.

 

As a writer, I’ve long experimented with the idea of color as a narrative. So I’m pleased with this result that also taps into my long-held interest. I hope readers enjoy it as well.

~

To Michael Leong (Columbus, Ohio), July 2025:

MURDER DEATH RESURRECTION is a book offshoot of my project “The MDR Poetry Generator.” I thought its multi-layered conceptual underpinnings would be of interest to Michael, who's also an excellent conceptualizer, so I sent him the book.

~

To Alex Golden (Palm Springs, California), July 2025:

For my postcard to Alex, I wrote a “Mother” hay(na)ku because whenever I think of Alex, I inevitably think of his generosity that includes giving me a doll that once belonged to his mother.

Mother

—a Hay(na)ku for Alex

 

You are so

wonderful, I

even

 

came to love

your wonderful

Mother

 

You can see Alex’s mother’s doll--of Marilyn Monroe--on the left corner of this desk that contained the start of my Miniature Book Library.

Thanks Alex!

~

To Marianne Villanueva (Redwood City, California), July 2025:

It was lovely to briefly reminisce over the days when Marianne and I were just starting out as writers--for that alone I'm glad we traded postcards. Because Marianne sent me her new book Residents of the Deep, I also sent a book to accompany my postcard--my flash fiction collection Getting to One, created in collaboration with harry k stammer. Exchanging words can be fun!!!

~

To Meredith Caliman (Torrance, California), August 2025:

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To Harry and Barbara Lee (Gig Harbor, Washington), August 2025:

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To Ulysses Duterte (Hayward, California), August 2025:

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To Joel Vega (Arnhem, The Netherlands), August 2025:

I was glad to be able to write Joel a postcard because it gave me a chance to compliment wonderful poem "Four Loaves of Stone, Ascending." Do go to link and read it for yourself!

Joel also was nice enough to post about my postcard on Facebook:

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To Richard Lopez (Sacramento, California), August 2025:

Thanks for reaching out, Richard! I'm always happy to hear from you!

~

To Catalina Cariaga (Oakland, California), August 2025:

To reciprocate, I decided to give Catie a copy of my art monograph, Drawing the Six Directions. As I said in my note on the book's title page, "Because as poets, we are visual"! Thanks Catie!

~

To Jaime Robles (San Leandro, California), September 2025: 

Since Jaime sent me a story involving ballet classes, I wanted to write her a poem on dance. I’m an inept dancer, so this chained hay(na)ku is what I concocted for her:

The Aspirant

 

Because she cannot

dance well

she

 

calls herself a

“movement artist”

because

 

she can stumble

without ever

falling

 

Thanks for inspiring a poem, Jaime!

~

To Yvette Pantilla-Carpio (Makati, Philippines), September 2025:

Thanks for engaging with me and this project, Yvette!

~

To Scott MacLeod (Austin, Texas), September 2025: 

Scott is a Renaissance Man who is also a visual artist. So I thought I'd send him my book of drawings and hope I won't rue the day :) 

~

To Rodrigo Dela Pena, Jr. (Singapore), September 2025:

RODRIGO DELA PENA, JR.

A September Postcard from Rodrigo Dela Pena, Jr.

I'm so grateful that the very talented poet Rodrigo sent me a postcard from Singapore since he was thoughtful enough to contextualize Singapore as Jose Rizal's "first stop on his way to Spain in his first trip abroad." I didn't know that factoid about "the 'little red dot' where [Rodrigo's] been based for the past 14 years." Lovely to know! Thanks Rodrigo!

Here are some links to Rodrigo's wonderful poems:

Sixfold: https://old.sixfold.org/PoSummer20/DelaPena.html

Rattle: https://rattle.com/self-portrait-by-rodrigo-dela-pena-jr/

SCOTT MACLEOD

 September Postcard from Scott MacLeod:

I’m delighted to receive this card from Scott MacLeod whose projects I really love… including his new book, TWO SMOALTERS, a book of email correspondence over two years between him and Jim Leftwich. I consider the book’s text to be perfect for someone wanting to do a major erasure poetry project. It's not because any of the text warrants erasure. It's because every sentence, phrase, word are so high-energy one wants to lift samples for epigraphic fuel to move to a more divine state of consciousness. The effect is even more impressive as the email texts are collapsed into a single narrative without breaks that, say, could have been provided by each email's date. The writing, thus, stands on itself and it's charismatic. Example: "all life is suicide" which is not exactly a downer so much as a philosophical if not medical reality. Erasure also is an approach that befits what the two back cover blurbers say, especially Alison Knowles: "If I can open soya beans into a tray, it opens the possibility for anyone to make their own array of sounds. It's not necessary to organize them into a symphony." Yes, Reader, the symphony is yours to make!

 

I show the book against "S.S. Kevin Killian" that Scott made and generously gave to me (bless you, Kevin, I miss you). I also recommend—for the first time ever as I more likely counsel against the practice to focus on the writing themselves!—reading the bios. There's a bit of performance art going on in there (gotta admit, Scott had me until the point of his 64,000-acre ranch.) Finally and paradoxically, I recommend reading this book in one sitting. This book is so enjoyable on many levels.

ANONYMOUS

 September Postcard from Anonymous (in Austin, Texas, based on postmark):

While the sender didn't reveal their identity, I appreciate this card for how it powerfully combines image with an intriguing question. Thank you, Anonymous!

YVETTE PANTILLA-CARPIO

 September Postcard from Yvette Pantilla-Carpio:

I'm delighted to receive my second international postcard, this from the Philippines and evoking Japan's lovely cherry blossoms. Thanks, Yvette! I'm always glad to meet another writer! More information about Yvette and her short story collection A Lesser Fear of Water is HERE.

JAIME ROBLES

September Postcard from Jaime Robles:

Poets and artists who walk through the world and pluck out random, even mundane, elements to turn into art are special. Jaime Robles does this with this marked-up photograph she created from her encounters with a dancer with whom she once shared ballet classes in Los Angeles. Jaime would give her lifts to their classes and, each time, the dancer gave her two quarters wrapped in two bills tied with a rubber band—the same amount as bus fare. Jaime’s writing of “Y A S !” in red glittery ink is what opens up the image in the same manner as an open-ended poem. Why “Y A S !”? Answering integrates the viewer into the image and the lack of a definitive answer to the question creates a viewer relationship with the image through imagination. This exemplifies the wonder that can be the artistic / poetic brain. Thanks for sharing, Jaime!

 

BARBARA JANE REYES and OSCAR BERMEO

 Barbara Jane Reyes and Oscar Bermeo are among the poets who’ve been helping me rebuild my post-wildfire library (Go HERE and see the March 2, 2025 entry). They are also among the most talented poets today so it makes sense that their books are wonderful for me to have, and I am grateful. Slipped among said books was a postcard from The Sandman graphic novels. The image is of Morpheus, Dream of the Endless.

Here is an image of one of their several groups of books that they've generously given:

Salamat and Gracias, Barbara and Oscar!