S2pid Luv is a night of performed poetry featuring the love poems of three emerging poets: Ralph Fonte, Regine Cabato, and Alfonso Manalastas. Love poetry and hugot culture have allowed poetry to recapture the imagination of Filipinos especially in Metro Manila but the resulting backlash has given love poems a bad rap. S2pid Luv is the attempt of three widely-cited young poets to assert the artistry involved in crafting love poems with pieces tackling the wild spectrum of romance: infatuation, heartbreak, forbidden love, lust, and more. The night will be divided into two parts — the first hour will feature a curated line-up of other emerging young poets while the second will revolve around the poetry of Manalastas, Cabato, and Fonte. Prepare your hearts: this isn’t your ordinary hugot night. S2pid Luv will be on February 22, 2020 at 8:00 PM. Entry is at Php 300 and comes with a free drink.
About the Poets:
ALFONSO MANALASTAS is an op-ed contributing writer, a poet, and a spoken word artist from Butuan City, now based in Manila. He was accepted as a poetry fellow for two national writers’ workshops and was invited to speak and perform for two TEDx events (Cebu and Davao City). His op-ed articles can be found in Rappler, Scout, ANCX, and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, while his poems have appeared in several journals including Cha: An Asian Literary Journal (Hong Kong), Likhaan: the journal of contemporary Philippine literature (UP Press), and Cordite Poetry Review (Australia), among other places.
REGINE CABATO works as a journalist in Manila. She has won a Palanca Award and Loyola Schools Award for the Arts for her poetry. Her work has been published in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Kritika Kultura, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, and Rambutan Literary, among others. She comes from Zamboanga City.
RALPH FONTE is a poet and physician from Metro Manila. His works have appeared in various publications such as LIRA 30, Philippines Graphic, and Cha: An Asian Literary Journal. He has won several awards for his poetry including a Palanca Award and a Maningning Miclat Poetry Award. In 2019, he was crowned Performance Poet of the Year at the Performatura Poetry Slam held by the Cultural Center of the Philippines. He has performed poetry on various stages across Southeast Asia and currently hosts ANG SABI NILA, a monthly poetry night that seeks to assert the primal that seeks to collapse the perceived divide between the page and the stage.
S2pid Luv is co-presented by 10 Days of Art, Art Fair Philippines, When In Manila, and Fringe Festival Manila.
