Sonnets from Jerusalem by Simeon Dumdum, Jr.

About the book:
The fifty-five sonnets in this collection invite us to accompany the poet on a spiritual travelogue through the Holy Land from Mt Sinai and the Dead Sea to the Mount of Olives and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Lyrical, deeply felt and peppered with detail, the sonnets contain all the passion with which this poetic form is traditionally associated, yet it is a passion transfused by the poet’s quest to deepen his faith. Reflections on happiness or temptation sit side-by-side with delightfully personal musings—such as speculating on how it might be to face an angel, or imagining Mary cupping her hands to drink from a spring. A wry sense of humour courses through the sonnets, such as their author admitting to once having been reluctant to ‘be caught writing about God / Since that would be uncool (and hard to rhyme)’. We may feel grateful that this earlier impulse was overturned, as the resulting poetic pilgrimage is poised to tenderly illuminate the inner journey ultimately confronting every human.
{DENISE O’HAGAN}
By the strength of his convictions and the expansiveness of his spiritual energy, Dumdum takes most of us who cannot go on the actual pilgrimage, on this inner journey, from the bottom of our consciousness, where often it is half-lit, to top of heart and mind. He floods it with light, and at once we are in spaces he describes in detail and with such accuracy. At once, too, we arrive at pure destinations of eureka.
The poet, this book, gives us a well-lighted place to germinate a daily faith.”
{KARINA AFRICA BOLASCO}
Where others would have brought a camera and a recorder, Jun Dumdum brought his faith amd his poetry, emerging from his journey to the Holy Land with more than a tourist’s catalog of impressions. As with all true pilgrims, he travels in quest of himself, and of the godliness in him, fortifying with every step his “faithful heart, that strong unbreakable jar.” These sonnets are the songs of that stout and martial heart.
{JOSE DALISAY, JR.}