Mga Bulawan nga Bulak / Golden Flowers

By Noel Galon de Leon

I was a first-year college student when I first read the works of John Iremil Teodoro, whom we fondly called Sir John and, among friends, Sirena. Even then, he stood out as a writer deeply aware of the importance of writing from one’s own language and place. He taught us that the truest voice begins in our own ground, that poetry grows best from lived experience and memory. Years later, I found myself on the other side of the workshop table, now a panelist of the San Agustin Writers Workshop and eventually its workshop director, a position once held by Sir John as co-founding director. That moment felt like a quiet completion of a circle, proof of how his mentorship and example continued to shape those who came after him.

When I learned that he had released a new collection of poems, I immediately ordered it. Reading his poetry has always felt like returning to something both familiar and renewed. His latest book, Mga Bulawan nga Bulak / Golden Flowers: A Collection of Poems from Thailand, published by Pawikan Press, reflects the calm clarity and grace of his vision. The book design by Jocas A. See and the cover painting by Jonathan Benitez capture the luminous stillness that defines the poems.

The collection is trilingual, with the original poems in Kinaray-a, translations in Filipino by the author, and English translations by Alice Sun-Cua. This form highlights Teodoro’s sensitivity to language and his commitment to regional literature. Containing seventeen poems, the book offers meditations on time, memory, and the beauty found in small, ordinary moments. The poet turns daily experiences into quiet revelations. Many of the poems resemble prayers, filled with gratitude and reflection. Others are tender recollections of his mother or intimate portrayals of his nephew. Set partly in Thailand, the poems reveal how attention and affection can turn foreign places into extensions of one’s inner world.

Equally admirable is Teodoro’s creative partnership with Alice Sun-Cua. Their collaboration rests on mutual trust and shared purpose. Teodoro also published Sun-Cua’s Iloilo City on My Mind, a collection of essays about her life in Iloilo. Their relationship shows how literature thrives through friendship and community, how writing becomes more meaningful when sustained by generosity and belief in others’ work.

Beyond his poetry, what continues to inspire me about Sir John is how he lives as a writer. He uplifts younger authors, promotes regional languages, and engages thoughtfully with questions of culture and nation. His example reminds us that writing is not only a private pursuit but a form of cultural service. His humility and commitment to community give his work lasting value.

The writers worth admiring are those who not only master craft but also honor their origins and use literature to affirm identity and solidarity. Teodoro writes in Kinaray-a not merely as choice but as conviction, a declaration that language itself is heritage. His poetry shows that what is local can be deeply universal when written with honesty and care.

Mga Bulawan nga Bulak / Golden Flowers overflows with tenderness and quiet strength. Each poem blooms with patience and purpose, grounded in the textures of life. Reading this collection feels like walking through a garden of memory and light, where every image carries both intimacy and transcendence. It is a reminder that poetry, when rooted in love and belonging, transcends distance and becomes a bridge between people and places.

Teodoro’s Mga Bulawan nga Bulak / Golden Flowers affirms that poetry can preserve what time tries to fade. It celebrates the human capacity to see beauty in the ordinary and to turn it into song. The poems shine with gentleness and conviction, blooming golden and enduring in the reader’s mind.