Manila does seem to be adequately poised for recognition for its vast contributions to global culture. In terms of visual art, design, architecture, and the performing arts, there is a lot going on in the city on any given evening. The cultural mix here is substantial, giving a distinctively eclectic flavor to all the works. The city itself is so rapidly moving, that it’s easy to get caught up in all the dazzling distractions and forget to look for the real cultural treasures. But they’re definitely here.

Even a form of art that has always been precariously close to its own demise, poetry, is very strong here. It always has to compete against the more shiny entertainments, and it’s rarely a victor in terms of numbers at the moment, but generations pass and reveal that its influence runs deeper than can be counted by a ticket machine. So the new generation of poets here are on the verge, or perhaps have already crossed the threshold, into a new way of making art. Taking the consciousness of poetry’s precarious position, but still maintaining faith in the spoken word as a unique way of communicating the real underlying truths and half-truths of the contemporary world, these new artists are making headway into new territory.

They owe as much influence to the past as poetry ever did, and one of the greats living in Manila is Gemino Abad . Born in 1939, he is a professor at the university here. In the great tradition of poets past, he teaches the multiple voices of poetry that feed the local muses, and makes music on his own that is simply sublime.

Last year he won Italy’s highest literary prize, the Prize Premio Feronia – Citta de Fiano , putting him in the same ranks as Xingjian, Coetzee, Grass, and Amiri Baraka. It’s a magnificent feeling to wake up in a Manila hotel room and realize that this is a poetic city, and there is much more to come.