Beauty from Ashes

After more than six months of writing, re-write, edits, and incorporating comments from reviewers, my book finally saw Amazon light in July, 2023. It’s listed on all the websites around the world. In Canada, it’s more convenient to use Amazon.ca. Just to make sure you have the correct “Controlled Burn” (it looks like a few titles by that name), use the Search box and enter “Alfie Kwong.”

I’d like to single out two individuals’ assistance in the publishing of this book. One is my Coquitlam neighbor (just less than an hour’s drive from Richmond, my home), Theodore “Spike” Yabut, Jr., whose memoir Brown Rice was also listed in Amazon, and who gave me invaluable advise on how to use Amazon’s Kindle Publishing. He also wrote the encouraging blurb at the back cover:

Alfie Kwong asks, “If a closet poet were to attempt poetry, what must one do? How does one start?” His new book, Controlled Burn: A Collection of Poems, provides answers. Kwong’s introduction is a master class in understanding and appreciating poetry. I dare those who read the intro, let alone the whole book, to not write their first poem. Every poet’s journey is different. Kwong takes us on a path that started with his roots in China, his upbringing in the Philippines, and his maturity in Canada. His poems reflect his development as an artist, from the earnest explorations of haikus and sonnets to lyrical rhymes and free verse. He says poems are his confessions, baring his wounds so it can heal others. This book is a map for treasures better than gold.

And my spiritual mentor, Dr. Peter Tan-Chi, Senior Pastor of the Christ’s Commission Fellowship, who wrote a worshipful foreword for me, Poetry and Scripture, excerpts:

The works in this book by my classmate, friend and brother in Christ, Alfie Kwong, are works that come from the depths of his heart. He loves the Lord and that is quite evident in his works. In one of the poems, he acknowledged that there is “God’s way and the life after” ….

There are of course many other individuals I am indebted to, including Doy Santos, the Editor of Atin Ito News, among others.

I take some excerpts from the Introduction of my book, to highlight the purpose of my writing:

To me, writing poetry is not just to appreciate (or to cleverly manipulate) language. It is not just an expression of one’s interaction with nature, with the world, or with the self. While I am not ambitious enough to think of poetry as a therapeutic vehicle, I believe the purpose of poetry is soul care, and through a certain arrangement of words and phrases, hopefully in a creative way, I can be free to release the good that has been placed in me. There is no disagreement the world is stricken with a kind of soul disease, a severe psychological disorder, and that beneath our struggles is a disconnected soul, but perhaps healing it is still a pipedream. However, by setting down one’s “confessions” we realize how much our own wounds can heal others, that even in the dismal description of our reality or even in our indictment of wars, loneliness, homelessness, and cruelty, we can plant a seed for the reader – for an excitement with its potential to liberate and encourage. What this collection is not – is a moralism with its principles and exhortation to do “right.” What is foremost though is an honesty about my insecurities, fears, and inadequacy – to speak of these things from the dark night of my soul, without shame, so together with the reader, I can move forward, and thrive…

I have taken the presumption that this collection is a tempered release of the things that matter from my heart – the sparks that originate from the marriage of mind and heart. I have thus titled this work “Controlled Burn,” borrowing from a hazard reduction technique in forestry, involving the setting of planned fires to maintain the health of a forest. There is a good comparison between this method and soul care. Although I find that this notion of controlled burning doesn’t help when it comes to my own anger management, there is a benefit in a “cathartic” release of my different thoughts and emotional dimensions through verses. I hope you will agree with me when you finish reading this offering…

Seventy years is good enough time to treat those two imposters: Triumph and Disaster, just the same (borrowing from Rudyard Kipling), and to glean from life those nuggets of wisdom one wishes to pass down to the next generation. It is also enough time to practice one’s craft and now time to come out of the “writer’s closet.” These poems are meant for that representative of humanity who responds to what life can offer in the pendulum of rejoicing and grieving.

I consider this collection as The Everyman’s Trip into Poetry, in the hope that it may embolden the “closet” poet to come out with his own creation. I write this in the courage of setting down my private thoughts and feelings. While this attempt may seem amateur, I still think there is a value for such expression, if not just to affirm the importance of poetry in understanding and navigating life.

I included some artwork in the book, by the way, selections from the immense trove of paintings of Dr. Manuel Garces Dee, retired USAF Colonel, specializing in Internal Medicine and Nephrology.

Now why the title Beauty from Ashes? Before the forewords, I wrote the following:

Beauty’s born from ashes

And life grows from dust,

Sure hope now flashes

Such is poetry’s trust

A sample of my work is shown below:

The Pendulum Hour

What farce the mocking bird puts on

When it perches on the tree to yawn.

We crave the comic for our relief 

When in laughter we hide our deepest grief

Life’s companion has been our self’s unity 

Insulating pain like some immunity,

No road we realize leads to immortality

Of fame or glory and life’s importunity.

Though there is God’s way and the life after.

There is a continuum between our yes and no

On this once familiar merry round we go.

We end this triviality just as we start

In search of one’s open door inside the heart.

(Note: Laughter has a way of masking our deep-most grief)

Please feel free to get a copy from the Amazon Canadian website. — Alfie Kwong