Di Achichuk

This is a beautiful, moving example of the poetry of place. Achichk names both the collection and the place with which Merina is deeply familiar. That two-part signification invites us to read Achichk as lyric geography. Its best poems convey deftness, verve, and grace. And the syntax found in the poemsin the arrangements on the page and the word-music they scoreembody 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