Pinas-an 05/15/2011
 Paglikdo ko ha kanto tikang ha iyo balay, Lumos ako han alimwag han ilang-ilang-- An alimyon han im' buhok Pinapas-an ha ak' sugbong. That's the translation of my poem "Burden" that Voltaire did, sending me a copy through SMS. I couldn't have done a better job at it. Add Comment Tales of the Spiderwoman 04/29/2011
 Just finished reading Merlie Alunan's fourth book of poetry, Tales of the Spiderwoman (Manila: UST Publishing House, 2011), which includes the collection that won her the 1st Prize for Poetry in English in the 2010 Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards. Most of the poems in the collection display a different voice than the one readers of her earlier poems may be familiar with. Here one may be surprised, as I was, by the lighter tone. Check out the first and last poems, which sort of bookend the collection: "Chasing the Rain" and "Chasing the Rain, the Sun at Our Heels." There's some sort of come-what-may abandon in the lines from the latter poem: "wind stinging our faces / overhead the birds / shrieking turn back / turn back turn back // behind us, look, / bright fields, the sea / glinting gold! // we've come this far / chasing the rain, / the sun at our heels." But this seeming impulsiveness also reveals an acceptance of a full life lived, and the wisdom such living has bestowed. And so this voice says in "Second Spring": "World and time have other uses for our lives, / raising more reasons to whirl us away / from what our hearts know simply-- / mapping their own spaces, their own / strange season, this second spring, / this rare loveliness, impossible epiphany." A rare revelation that the speaker is determined to savor and treasure in her heart, but also a gift she knows the universe may take away from her. This acceptance is perhaps best evoked in a stanza from "Hedgebrook": "Moss springs back under my steps / On the path to the spring-- / quickly the woods are cleansed of my presence." Such wise words indeed. P.S.: The cover design and art work by Merlie's daughter, Mayanne, completes the book. Tambuburay 02/17/2011
 Duha ka tambuburay Nagkakabaay Binaba han hangin Ha ak' kasingkasing Harapas han Ira mga pako  I thought it would be no hassle at all, when Joey and Voltaire called several months back to ask if I could judge in this poetry contest. And indeed it wasn't, if all we're talking about is the culling of entries to choose the best. And so when I got the thick envelope of thirty-six entries, each entry made up of five poems, I decided to make a shortlist from which to choose my top three entries. I ranked my ten shortlisted entries according to the number of noteworthy poems per entry. Surprisingly, three entries stood out for their five out of five outstanding pieces. The other seven shortlisted entries each had two out of five poems that were just as remarkable. I chose my top three for the writers' mastery of the craft, and their experimentation with the siday form. Picking the winner wasn't a difficult task, too, as the contestant's pieces displayed a vision and a voice that went beyond technical abilities. (I think my top three winners were also the other judges' choice, in that same order too.) This October 13, the Sinirangan Culture and Arts Development Center of the Leyte Normal University will award the winners of the first Pasidungog Eduardo Makabenta Sr. poetry competition. The top three are:
  Nagtataka si Nina, Nagtatanong si Nina 02/03/2010
 Marcy Dans Lee, my colleague at school, came up with a children's book on Filipino values. She was commissioned by Unionbank to do the book for its CSR project. The children's book came out several years ago, and has been reprinted several times. Unionbank also came out with a Student's Workbook, distributed to schoolchildren in several schools around the country. In its third edition, the workbook includes a poem entitled "Nina Wonders, Nina Asks," written by Marcy Dans Lee. My translation of the poem, "Nagtataka si Nina, Nagtatanong si Nina," appears in this edition: NAGTATAKA SI NINA, NAGTATANONG SI NINASalin ni Nino Soria de Veyra Ngayong papasok na sa paaralan At karunungan ay madaragdagan, Niyapos ni Nina, hinagkan ni Nina Ang pinakamamahal niyang ina at ama Dahil siya ay mangungulila Sa kanilang tunay na pagkalinga. Pero si Nina ay nagtataka, si Nina ay nagtatanong Ang pagmamahal ba ay gagawing walang hanggan ng Poon? Naglalakad si Nina sa may bangketa Ang bawat hakbang sinasalubong ng basura – Papel, babol gam, pambalot ng kendi – Kung saan-saan tinapon sa pag-aapura Ngayon ay nagkalat na sa kalsada Kahit may mga basurahan para sa tira-tira. Kaya si Nina ay nagtataka, si Nina ay nagtatanong 'Di ba madaling gawin ang basura ay tamang itapon? Sa himpilan ng jeepney si Nina dumating, Sa kapal ng usok siya ay napabahin. (Hatsing!) Nagsisiksikan na mga pasahero, walang puwestong makita, Hindi ba nila nababasa nakapaskil na mga paunawa? Pakiwari niya ay nakakatakot at nakakalungkot Makita ang mga taong sumusungit at sumisimangot. Kaya si Nina ay nagtataka, si Nina ay nagtatanong Kailangan ba palaging magmadali sa habang panahon? Pagdating niya sa paaralan, ang bagong kamag-aral nakita, Tinutukso at sinisindak ng mga manlolokong kaiskuwela. Nalulumbay ang bata, nawalan ng pag-asa. Sa wari ni Nina, hindi makatarungan kanyang pagdurusa. Agad-agad inakay ni Nina ang bata papalayo Sa kapahamakan at siguradong gulo. Kaya si Nina ay nagtataka, si Nina ay nagtatanong Sinong walang sala sa ibang tao ay humukom? Sa pagsusulit sa Matematika sa araw na iyon, Nagdamdam si Nina sa kanyang paglingon, Kaliwa't kanan nagkokopyahan, Mga kaiskuwela ay sinusuway ang kautusan, Pinagpatuloy ang masamang gawain Nang ibaling ng guro ang kanyang pansin. Kaya si Nina ay nagtataka, si Nina ay nagtatanong Itong pandaraya ba ay palalampasin ng Panginoon? At sa oras ng rises, sa kalembang ng kampana, Mga bata ay humiyaw, ang galak ipinagkakanta. Si Nina ay natuwa sa masayang nakita, Hanay ng mga batang tapat na pumipila, Ang pinakahuli sa dulo pumupunta, Matiyagang naghihintay makabili ng miryenda. Si Nina ay nagtataka, si Nina ay nagtatanong 'Di ba ganitong mga tagpo ang hanap sa bawat panahon? Tapos na ang laro at wala ng klase, Kaya si Nina sa bahay tuwirang umuwi, At ang pinakamamahal niyang ina at ama Agad niyapos ni Nina, agad hinagkan ni Nina Dahil buong araw siya ay nangulila Sa kanilang tunay na pagkalinga. Kaya si Nina ay umaasa, si Nina ay nagdarasal Na mapabubuti ang bawat araw sa ating tamang asal.  I'm reposting here a biography of my grandfather, in time for his natal day tomorrow. Though he is long gone, his memory lives on in the family and perhaps in others who find some worth in the study of the Leyte-Samar language. This post is from Waray Museum, where you'll read other related texts.  Vicente I. de Veyra, Biography by Victoria S. Salazar Towards the end of 1903, an envelope postmarked Washington, D. C., made its slow way across the seas to the modest home of Pedro de Veyra and Ines Loanco of Palo, Leyte. The letter came from their eldest son, Martin, a government pensionado(1) in Columbia University. A photograph accompanied the letter. Fifteen-year-old Vicentico, studying his brother's photograph, idly turned it over. Some words were written at the back of the picture. He proceeded to read the lines aloud: Bisan magpakainkaen an sakayan, mabalek gihapon ha duruungan. "No matter where a ship may make its way, back to port it will return one day." What a world of meaning lay in that simple sanglitanan (saying) of his people, mused Vicentico. To his mother, anxious for her firstborn so far from home, the aphorism said in effect: "Don't worry, Mother. I shall come back." As he read the lines a second and yet a third time, a feeling of excitement slowly possessed him. He would collect this and other wise sayings of his people and write them down so they would never be forgotten. And he would begin right now with Agurang(2) Martin's inscription. Off he rushed to get paper and pen. Child's Play 01/25/2010
Two Poems from Caracoa 19 12/31/2009
The poems below are two, among four pieces, that were first published in Caracoa 19 (July 1988), published by the Philippine Literary Arts Council.  'Canine Reproduction' by davidlh To a Repressed Bacchante Dare we do As those dogs on the street Our eyes are glued to? Let's just sit and drink our coffee. But you gasp as one mounts The other -- what flesh Imaginings make you flush? Your furtive glances -- Could they imply more Than parlor intimacies? Your eyes can't keep casing The window and, how you chatter. Ah! You're no bacchante You'd have me believe. Okay, pour me a cup instead. "Oh, that is hot." Oh, if only we had a season Just for jointures. Oh, if only our love Would settle in the groin. But why blush again Why draw the curtains? Are we stuck In a rut?  The Wine Glass, by Jan Vermeer van Delft Party Blues (for Nancy) Not like in Prufrock you say Where the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo You stop seething patiently On your chair you say Here's where you're different You let your glass drop To the floor you pick the shards Smiling at the silent chair you say Sorry not to the women (Who think you're different) Coming and going talking Of who? and who? you don't ask Or the men (who don't think you're any Different from the women) with Their godawful cigars and politics I like your game you say Only to yourself and pace The room round and round and Round among your guests Look sit down you make me dizzy You say here's another glass cry Have a throe or would you rather I'll tell you another lie An Maupay Ha Mga Waray 12/29/2009
 Book cover of An Maupay ha Mga Waray An Maupay ha mga Waray ug iba pa nga mga Siday Voltaire Q. Oyzon NCCA and UPV Tacloban Creative Writing Program Manila, 2008 The good thing about the Waray is that they do not give up. Or, as Voltaire puts it: "Kun hinuhobsan inin akon dughan / sugad hiton medyahan / dayon ko ini inaalgan / didto kanda Mana Semang / (Mana Semang, ilista la anay)" [When the heart dries up / like this half-gallon jug / quickly I rush to Mana Semang's / to fill it up / (just put it in my bill, Mana Semang)]. This wry sensibility characterizes how the Waray copes with the tough life dealt to most. As long as there is tuba to go with life's vicissitudes the heart will still beat and "mangayat hin away" [spoil for a fight]. Perhaps that is why so many siday or poem in Waray deal with social issues. Tongues loosened by the tart taste of tuba, poets can spew the bitter in dribbles of sweetened lines some may consider as harmless nonsense. In the poem "Lagung" [Fly], for instance, Voltaire draws a picture of a fly that can only look on and drool at the food it cannot taste because the glass walls of fastfood joints, while providing an enticing gastronomic view, prohibit its entrance to "undesirable creatures." Like the fly and, by extension, street urchins who peer through the glass and "tutok / simhot / ... ha Jollibee, Dunkin' / di ngani Cindy's [popular fastfood joints in Tacloban] / ... hamot / laway" [stare / sniff / ... at Jollibee, Dunkin' / or Cindy's / ... smell / drool] at scrumptious meals patrons eat but which they can only look at or beg for until the service crew shoos them away. It is Voltaire's deft use of such images and situations that such harmless nonsense can contain scathing truths. In his "Kan Toytoy Pag-asoy han Agsob nga Karantahay ha Ira Balay" [Toytoy Tells About the Singing at Home], Voltaire shows how aesthetics and social commentary can go together in a poem about domestic violence. The poem describes how when the drunken father arrives home "naglulubay-lubay, / nagkikinanta han Inday, Inday [a popular Waray folk song] / diretso ini hiya ha kusina / manngungukab, / babagtingan an kardero, / mapakarakatak han mga plato" [swaying / singing Inday, Inday / heads straight for the kitchen / rummaging, / clanking pots, / jangling plates]. The wife's pacifying and soft alto, "baga'n kanan aghoy taghoy" [like a forest spirit's whistle], soon sings second voice to the husband's gruff complaints. Then, "... may malagubo, / bati han bug-os nga baryo, / hi nanay - napalsito" [a thud, / and the whole barrio hears / my mother singing in falsetto]. But it is not only Voltaire's skillful presentation technique that shines through in the poem. The aural play of onomatopoeic Waray words, the use of rhyme, and the counterpointing of the husband's bass and the wife's alto/falsetto complement the poem's descriptive narration and the delayed ironic twist in the ending. Merlie Alunan, who writes the book's "Introduction," is right indeed about Voltaire being at home in the Waray language: "He [understands] its nuances. Its tones and accents [echo] in his inner ear. He [is] at home with its rhythms. He can deal with its intricacies with the delicacy and finesse required by the poetic process" (9). And several poems in the collection reflects Voltaire's love for the Waray tongue. Rather than take a more strident but definitely less effective tone, Voltaire displays the same subtlety and humor in the use of language and images when he tackles the language theme. In "Nagbalyo-balyo Ako hin Nanay" [Changing Mothers], Voltaire effectively uses snippets of a Waray popular song to counterpoint the cultural effects of a colonial and/or linguistic hegemony. And parodying the Tagalog patriot, Marcelo H. del Pilar, who parodied "The Hail Mary" in "Ang Aba Guinoong Baria" [The Hail Money] to protest the greed of Spanish friars, Voltaire throws a gibe at the imperialism of the so-called national language in "Paghimaya" [Glory Be]. But even as Voltaire pays tribute to a heritage that is seemingly on the verge of extinction, his use of Waray is a testimony that the local tongue continues to flourish even as it confronts the onslaught of technological progress and the consequent homogenization of culture. In "Para han mga Pulong ha Waray nga Pinamatay" [For the Murdered Words in Waray], he turns quasi-scientific as he likens seemingly lost words in Waray to the dew that covers the earth every morning. But he also turns wistful and hopeful as he writes: "Ano an angay ta basolan? / Ano an angay ikabido? / Ha kalibotan, waray butang, / waray butang nga naaanaw" [What's there to regret then? / What's to feel bad about? / In this world, nothing, / nothing's gone forever]. Voltaire's collection - with poems tackling themes from the domestic and particular to the more universal in their very particularity - is, to use a perhaps rather outdated New Critical term, well-wrought indeed. In his use of linguistic and literary elements - folkloric allusions or appropriations of earlier literary forms and/or themes - coupled with a truly homegrown humor, Voltaire Q. Oyzon is an original talent worthy to be the heir to the Leyte-Samar literary tradition. Usa pa ka tagay [One more round]. (Note: Voltaire sent me a copy of his then newly-minted book and asked if I could do a review which he could send off to newspapers and magazines. It wasn't a chore doing the review since I had already written a short evaluation of the manuscript for the NCCA.) Avocado Love 12/28/2009
 Avocado, photo by Dalibor Bosits (as posted in Wikimedia) green my skin purples as your hand clenches my heart's bruised pit | ArchivesMay 2011 CategoriesAll LinksLogsFlickrTwitter projectChild's PlayAlerts  Intertextures - Poetry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License. |
RSS Feed