Rice grains : selected poems / selected poems Amado V. Hernandez ; selected and translated E. San Juan,. Jr., ; edited by Nan Braymer.

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Affirms the discordant realities of life and nevertheless project,in explicit sympathy with the collective spirit,an imminent breakthrough on all fronts to the fundamental exigencies of survival and happiness on earth.Most the poems in the collection were written in the "bartolina"-the segregated dungeon-of Muntinlupa,the state prison.When he wrote to Dr.Jose P.Laurel from his prison cell in New Bilibid Prison,July 11,1954,Hernandez describes the travesty of due process of law,the mockery of all standards of truth and justice at his trial.He discussed his long-drawn-out,cruel ordeal,he wrote:"The enemies of the common tao charged me with communistic activities because they could not charge me with dishonesty,with selling out the workers to the employer and politicians,or robbing the laborers of their legitimate earnings... When he received Republic Cultural Heritage Award,the judges expressed their view that his poems were of a high order....,and that his poetry"doesn't blink the facts of life,and yet it affirms the prevalence of the spirit."