Rivers Applaud Forever

the long version

"In Rivers Applaud Forever, Raymond Filip, the craftsman and musician, showcases his spoken-word texts that perform on a silent page, as well as his "say then play" recitals on stage. This collection features free verse and end rhymes; satire and nature studies; a concrete poem and a prose proem; a linked sequence of narratives, and a long bird call to the uncaptured. Filip's peace process comes to terms with his birth and disfigurement in a displaced persons camp after World War II; the unspeakable abuses of growing up with domestic violence and a broken home in the riverside slums of Verdun and Point St. Charles; his clandestine participation in the resistance movement that led to Lithuanian independence; the ups and downs of a mixed marriage to a Filipina; his battle with cancer; the journey of faith and global identity; and the joys of defying his age through his first love: sports. Pick up this book, and this book will pick you up."--