Book of haiku, poems by ‘lola’

“Tendrils,” a collection of haiku and other poems in English and Filipino by an 82-year-old grandmother (lola), is now on sale at a discounted price of P200 at Mind Master Publishing Inc. at 116 Narra St., Project 3, Quezon City (Telephone Nos.: 4351073 or 4211353).

“The collection is titled after the tendrils (in botany, thin stems that grow spirally to attach a climbing plant to its support). The poems are the random outgrowths of my imagination trying to reach out to people, to share with them the beauty of things around us,’’ said author Teresita-Aviles Gecolea. “I wish some of these poems will somehow cling to the readers’ minds like tendrils do.”

Employed in Manila’s public library in her youth, Gecolea is a self-educated poet who has developed her passion for reading and writing since she was eight years old. Her poems first appeared in 1953 in the magazine ‘’The Cross’’ and later in women’s and family magazines. Her more recent works drew inspiration from her grandchildren, Francine Kyle Chloe Felix, Chelsea Marjorie, Cedrick Jayden and Benedict Chrysler Paderanga.

The book was designed by art educator Lyte Seneres, with photographer Jimmy Domingo providing the images on the chapter pages.

The author is married to lawyer Filemon L. Gecolea.