NEW YORK, NY: The last major work of Fr. Gilbert Luis R. Centina III, OSA was released on August 28, 2020 in New York by Centiramo Publishing, almost four months after the Augustinian poet had died of complications from Covid-19 in León, Spain.
The 409-pageRecovecos/Crevices was completed by the poet just barely two weeks before his death on May 1, 2020. The release of his third Spanish-English bilingual poetry collection was timed to coincide with the feast day of St. Augustine, the spiritual founder of the Oder of St. Augustine of which Father Gilbert was a member.
In his introduction to the book, American prize-winning poet and author Thomas R. Caffrey praised the collection: "In his rhythmic verse the script artist strikes a chord that reverberates throughout us, transforming the mechanistic words into vibrant song and our stasis into action. Today’s brain science has discovered what the psalmists, poets and ancient musicians could only know by intuition: that music, melody or verse stimulate us to movement and emotion. We become unstuck. Our losing streak ends."
Shortly after his death, ABC, the Spanish national daily, paid tribute to Father Gilbert in its May 12, 2020 (p. 54) edition: "As an advocate for the preservation of the Spanish language in the Philippines, Father Centina supported the work of Hispanists to 'spread, defend and exalt' the Spanish language in that country. It is from this noble cause that he obtained his inspiration to write bilingual poetry books in Spanish and English. His large body of work assures him a solid place in Philippine literature in English and Spanish, as well as in Catholic poetry.
The book is available in three formats: linen with dust jacket, hard cover and softbound.