"The Whistle of Boatmen" is the first collection of free verses by Santos Castillo, a Roman Catholic priest in suburban Chicago. The book explores the human condition as an encounter with people, little things, divine realities, and seasons, and speaks of the vicissitudes of human life, especially to experiences of departures. The preface also a phenomenology of the poetic experience. The poetic subjects are diverse, all products of individual encounters and reflections with the most mundane things to the most profound realities of life. It also paints some images of the background of the author, who is born and raised in the Philippines and has become a diocesan missionary to America.