I just completed a mini deadline, where I had to describe "Who you are, what your background is, what you do/why you write?" I don't know what I was thinking. I hope they still like me.
My name is Eliyahu Enriquez, formerly known as Clifford Fabro Rivera. I was blessed with my Hebrew name by R’ Michael Rothbaum. Manang D2 nicknamed me E2. I sought to legalize Enriquez, in honor of my late cousin, Albert, who was instrumental in the Philippine student uprising, at the height of Martial Law, and summarily salvaged. I am still waiting for my name to be recognized by cousins and the Supreme Court of Rockland, wherein I will have to inform the local paper, which I hardly ever believe. Mobile calls have become obsolete. Skype looks promising. I identify as a BiPoly Asian Ⓐnimist Hudyo Minstrel. Or something alien, like ampalaya beside calamansi on a Pasober plato. And officially single Brown Fem Fatale.
I last traveled to Israel circa 2003, giving free light shows to IDF soldiers, whenever I got a chance to ditch the tour group. Digital cameras weren't mainstream, then. Since Underground Ravens were outlawed, I have been conducting novice research into burgeoning JOC [Jews of Color] communities, with a focus on East Asian Jury, specifically Jewish-Filipin@s, as well as the impact of Sinim and Filipinim OFW migration. Exploring Movement in lieu of exile, not just terrestrially, but also chronicling the inner, personal struggle of ibon — is a challenging metathesis. A lifestyle of legacy I call Method Poetry or Science Friction. I had my first collection of Pin@y Piyyutim published last year, by a small press British publisher, who center-indented all of my poems. As such, I chose not to go ahead with the paperback edition, settling for an e-Book, ISBN initiation, and exponential subversion of empirical proportions. I find my full American name, ironic, on search engines. I am drawn to unconventional disorientation, despite my derisive investigative instigation. And I hope we can still be fb bodies.
I hope you found that satisfactory, along with the few choice Tagalog?
