Gilbert Luis R. Centina

This book delves into the religious character, substance and symbolisms in Ricaredo Demetillo's poetry. As a religious poet, Demetillo--one of the Philippines' most gifted poets--undertakes a spiritual journey, which is actually a flight from wrong values, hypocritical religion, crumbling civilization, and moral corruption. For Demetillo, God is the God of the living, not of the dead. Heaven and hell are within man himself; through self-knowledge, man regains his lost paradise. Love alone heals and forgives.

When Jos Mor n entered the monastery, it was to pursue the highest form of chivalry. But his fate as a religious priest takes a precipitous turn when social paroxysm grips the island-nation of Islas e Islotes after the downfall of the government. To cover up his own misdeeds, his abominably corrupt religious superior leading a double life seizes the ensuing chaos and collaborates with human rights violators in the military to accuse the completely innocent friar of a fabricated heinous crime. The plot unravels as those who claim to follow Christ wade into politics, taking for granted his injunction to "render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's." In this novel, cassocked hypocrites are unmasked and only the weak are spared.

Recovecos/Crevices is the final work of notable Catholic poet Gilbert Luis R. Centina III, an Augustinian religious missionary who died from Covid-19 in Le n, Spain in May 2020. In his preface to this book, completed barely two weeks prior to his death, he sensed the danger surrounding him at his friary at the height of the pandemic. It turned out to be a prescient, if ironic, foreboding of his own mortality. He wrote: "The new coronavirus has rewritten the rules of daily life, and even our most sophisticated technologies seem powerless to stop it as we descend into a dystopian world where no one is sure how all this will end," adding, "this collection of poetry is my gift to those who survived the pandemic and my tribute to those who fought well and perished."

Recovecos/Crevices is the final work of notable Catholic poet Gilbert Luis R. Centina III, an Augustinian religious missionary who died from Covid-19 in Le n, Spain in May 2020. In his preface to this book, completed barely two weeks prior to his death, he sensed the danger surrounding him at his friary and wrote poignantly about his experience during the pandemic that would claim his life.

Prize-winning poet Gilbert Luis R. Centina III plumbs the depths of human despair and celebrates the triumph of the human spirit through this bilingual poetry collection. He uses the mosaic of cultures he has experienced in the rainforests of Peru, the sweltering tropical heat of the Philippines, the frenetic pace of Spanish Harlem in New York, and the Old World milieu of Spain as a backdrop in painting a panoramic view of humanity's inner struggle with life itself. What emerges is an affirmation that in the end, victory belongs to those who love and hope and remain steadfast in their faith in the goodness of humankind.

A poetry collection which runs the gamut of the human experience, leaving the reader breathless with incandescent verses that ennoble the spirit. It weaves a tapestry of a beautiful Spanish landscape inhabited by heroic figures standing tall despite the weight of an imperfect world, adeptly incorporating love as a metaphorical trope to deliver lustrous historical, philosophical and theological insights into the human psyche.

Diptych/D ptico is the first English-Spanish bilingual book of poems by prize-winning poet Gilbert Luis R. Centina III. It features original artwork by Basque multimedia artist Vicente J uregui Presa and by Louella Centina Garnado. Spanish avant-garde poet Antonio Aguirre introduces the collection. Writing the prologue and the epilogue, respectively, are Spanish author Josemar a Alonso Alonso de Linaje and Spanish editor and educator Ana Maria Romo de Miguel.

Triptych and Collected Poems represents over thirty years of Gilbert Luis R. Centina III's poetic works, which critics have described as "modern poetry at its best," "lyrical" and "eloquent." It cements his reputation as a religious poet who "honors the Catholic] church's fortitude, individual spirit and conviction, belief and the voyage thereof."Written in four different continents (Asia, Europe and the two Americas), it echoes his own personal quest for that Beauty ever ancient, ever new, as described by Saint Augustine, the spiritual founder of his religious order.That pursuit is by no means without its struggles, which is not a revelation in itself, considering that it is, after all, a part of the human experience, with all its foibles, disappointments and triumphs. But it is a search rooted in the firm belief that when all is said and done, our heart is restless until it finally rests in the bosom of our Creator.