The Daily Glance
Aileen Ibardaloza's traje de boda collects culture in its pieces. In it, Ibardaloza refers to Filipino culture and the writing over of it by Spanish and English, to Japanese culture, and to Western culture (through references to Alexander, Cato, etc. . .). About a third of the book is written in hay(na)kus, and Ibardaloza handles the form well. My favorite piece is "Viand," a hay(na)ku that deals with language control and cross-cultural understanding--this happens primarily through a brief exchange between a wife and husband. Marriage is obviously a theme in the book (traje de boda means wedding dress in Spanish), and I like the way Ibardaloza mingles culture in with that theme. She manages to explore many aspects of colonial culture, from resisting language erasure to being forced into another culture, but through the process, we don't loose sight of her as a person.
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