Vibe Check

Autumn is finally vibing here in the North Georgia mountains, and it's got me thinking about Kalibayan's vibe.

This time of year tends to spark a sense of wanderlust in me. I booked a flight to the Philippines next year. I haven't been back in almost two decades. I'm excited to see the motherland, ask all the questions, and hunt down some lore. Get those monster stories from the source!

I was looking through some works stuck in editorial purgatory and found an old draft from the time I started the Kalibayan project. I had been heavily meditating on Robert Browning's poem, Caliban Upon Setebos.

Written in 1864, it's a dense and complicated poem. You might recognize Caliban from Shakespeare's The Tempest, and you'd be right. The poem is Caliban articulating his theology, meditating on the nature of gods, particularly vengeful, spiteful gods. The poem deals with religion and our place in the natural order. Ultimately, it asks the question: if we are made in God's image, what does our corrupt, evil behavior say about God? Anyway, it's one of the catalysts that set me on the path to Kalibayan.

And in keeping with this month's monster theme, Caliban and, further, Setebos (his god) slots right in!

So what does Kalibayan feel like? Well, it's broody, dark, and violent. More medieval epic poem a la Dante's Inferno or Victorian dramatic poem like Caliban Upon Setebos than Robert Frost's romantic walks in the woods or lilacs blooming in dooryards.

Particularly, it feels like my friend, Jen Lescher's, photography. Y'all have probably noticed by now that she's the primary artist that I use in most of my work. I've loved her work since I met her in college. Her work speaks to me in ways that I can't quite articulate. All I know is that when I write poetry or think of scenes for my fiction, I often will later see one of Jen's photos and think, "Damn, that is what I was thinking of or feeling when I wrote that one thing." I use her photos as references when writing about Kalibayan because they instantly transport me there.

Head over to my Instagram to get a feel for Kalibayan.