This Is How to Mean No Harm

“This is how to mean no harm trudges past the domain of grand, sweeping emotions which function as the lyric’s currency and telos, instead lingering in seemingly unremarkable states of mind and feeling from a life overwhelmed by capitalist inundations—which is to say, our lives. The poems shuttle between workplace and rented condo unit, or are coerced into antsy immobility by lockdowns, spaces and moments in which rage simmers into irritation and devotion must contend with fatigue. While revealing an unsettling alertness to routine fits of social embarrassment, frustration over government ineptitude, and blunted grief from the pandemic, the poems refuse the illusory refuge of epiphany and transcendence—what’s maintained is a self-deprecation that’s pathological in its ubiquity: ‘I’ve always been some form / of forgettable.’ As curious as an office busybody and as adept at crisp, resourceful maneuvers as an urban commuter, Martin Villanueva’s collection is mundane in its preoccupations and casual in its demeanor, yes, but also, in its delineations of adult impotence, quick-witted and sympathetic and relatable. This is poetry that understands us.”
—Mark Anthony Cayanan

“Villanueva delivers his poetic moments with ice-cold, knife-sharp patience. He fills the space between these moments with music.”
—Norman Erikson Pasaribu

Published in 2024.