This lecture examines how Philippine Sinophone poet Grace Hsieh-Hsing (1938–2021) developed what I call a “tidal poetics”—a scholarly concept I propose based on close readings of her work—to describe her transformation of the Philippine archipelago’s geographic reality into a metaphor for artistic creation and cultural identity. Through depictions of Philippine foodways, customs, and landscapes, Hsieh crafted a poetics both locally rooted and transnationally connected, using “archipelagic joy” to respond to the political rupture following the Taiwan–Philippines diplomatic break.

Drawing on her posthumous Floating Life, Poetic Shadows (浮生詩影, 2023), the trilingual Halo-Halo: Poems of the Philippines (哈露·哈露——菲島詩情), and works published in Taiwan’s Sunshine Collection (陽光小集), I trace how her late-blooming career—beginning at age 44—celebrates multiplicity, fluidity, and cross-cultural pollination. Her poems on balut, kamayan, and jeepneys demonstrate how Sinophone writers develop authentic local aesthetics while maintaining transnational connections. The lecture also examines the Sunshine Collection’s “Philippine Sinophone Poetry Exhibitions” (1982–1984) as a case study in literary networks circumventing Cold War political divisions.
Combining textual analysis with literary-historical context, I reflect on how her tidal poetics continues to inspire ongoing creative dialogues—including my own poetic engagement to be shared during the lecture. Hou Chien-Chou (Rex) is an Associate Professor at the Department of Chinese Studies, National Quemoy University, Taiwan, and holds a PhD in Chinese Literature from National Dong Hwa University. A poet and Sinophone writer, he is a member of the Archipelagic Poets Society in the Philippines. His research covers Taiwanese literature, Philippine Sinophone literature, Southeast Asian Sinophone literature, Sinophone literary and cultural studies, translation and intercultural research, literary theory and criticism, as well as island literature and migration studies. He has served as Principal Investigator for projects funded by Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council and Ministry of Education, was Writer‑in‑Residence at the National Museum of Taiwan Literature, and co‑organized the Pacific International Poetry Festival with poet Chen Li. He previously worked in the Philippines. Kritika Kultura is acknowledged by a host of Asian and Asian American Studies libraries and scholarly networks and indexed in the MLA International Bibliography, Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Clarivate), Scopus, EBSCO, the Directory of Open Access Journals, and the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs (ICCTP). Read KK issues and learn about submission guidelines and events on https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk or email the editors at kk@ateneo.edu.