Di Achichuk

This is a beautiful, moving example of the poetry of place. Achichúk names both the collection and the place with which Merina is deeply familiar. That two-part signification invites us to read Achichúk as lyric geography. Its best poems convey deftness, verve, and grace. And the syntax found in the poems-in the arrangements on the page and the word-music they score-embody the energies of tide and wind. If culture is a form of survival, then Merina not only enriches Philippine poetry but also enables Ivatan culture to thrive in a language that his tillage has made hospitable." - John Labella, Ateneo de Manila University