VPOETRY

The Silliman University Student Government Gender Studies Commissions, VDAY International Movement in cooperation with Pan Hellenic Society, Sillimn University Future Electrical Engineers, Hermanas Sorority and LitCritters Dumaguete


present



















Poetry like you've never seen it before


28 february 2007
six o'clock wednesday evening
Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium Grounds
Silliman University

Poems for Protest

In the midst of political chaos, that includes my disqualification to run for Vice-president for the Silliman University Student Government, Raczel Salvarita (current SUSG President) and I have decided to have a break or a challenge perhaps. We agreed to come up with our own poetry in five minutes. This is our on-the-spot-poetry-writing-as-protest.

Five minutes later, I had this...

Coffee

You handed over me
a cup of cappuccino.
Blended with sugar
and cream to suit
my taste buds.
Its bitterness is all
there is for me
to savor.
To the last drop,
all I have,
once more,
is you.

For Razcel, he had this…

Against the Wind

I never thought I’d
whisper my disappointments
to the wind.
It carries it along
in peace to the golden shores
of memories
dropped for its harmful
substance to the human soul.
Let me take a walk.
Let me feel the blade of grasses.
Let me see the constellations.
Let me shed in tears so I
can water the land
and be one with it
until you walk to me without knowing
that you’ve done it twice
to keep me still and just look
at you as a passing memory
one crazy Sunday afternoon.


It was a total relief from the uncertainty that we were facing that day and so, we took the challenge to a higher level. This time, we only have 3 minutes to write poetry.

Here’s Razcel’s second shot…

Standing

I’m stranded in the depths
of craziness.
To live in total nakedness
surrounded with disillusionment
and orgasmic mysteries.
Breathe the eternal
lies—the eternal sorrow.

And here’s mine…

Colors

What if the leaves were
pink?
What if the sea was
green?
Twist everything!
For breathing is a gamble
of colors
and infinity
is the brightest.



This is fun!

Sexy Tequilla!

You Are Tequilla

When you drink, you're serious about getting drunk! You'll take any shot that's offered up to you... Even if it tastes like sock sweat! And you're never afraid of eating the worm.

What Alcoholic Drink Are You?

Conquering Challenges!

After a whirlwind of events, my first short story was born.
(This is all for now. I'm running out of words)

I should write...

I should write a children's story based on this painting for the Romeo Forbes Children's Storywriting Competition before friday...

This is a reminder! I hope this will work!

Yes, Lyde, there is Superman...

From jordan's blog...

You are Superman

Superman 85% Spider-Man 80% Supergirl 80% The Flash 80% Green Lantern 80% Iron Man 80% Hulk 65% Robin 62% Wonder Woman 60% Catwoman 50% Batman 40%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz



I'm Superman! Freaky!

Traveling with Time

Time Traveling

If the only way to get to you
is through traveling with time,
then there would only
be one way to get to me.

going, with me, you are

If the only way to travel
is through time, then there would
only be one way to get to you.

you are, with me, gone

Leaving Things

Hua Mu Lan Greeting
Her Spirit-Husband
by Marjorie Evasco

Part V

Harmony at Parting

When you leave, as you must
To let me battle free,

The words of ever-wandering
Upon my soles
Of ever-giving upon my palms,

Will remind me of old dreams,
White hands touching

Will compel again and again
The kiss of poetry
On my forehead

Scarring me forever
With love's birthmark.

Written more than 20 years ago, this poem is immortalized by literature teachers, who require their students to read it for academic reasons and by literary aficionados, whose affinity for poetry is infinite. This time, I share the same sentiments with this poem.

Any form of parting--physical, geographical, or emotional--is painful. It will leave you with scars.

For the most part, I always believe that parting is life's most desperate measure to become better and grow. Whether we desire it or not, we have to grow. It is only in the pace of our growth that we have a choice. For the rest, we have to live with it. What we are now is because of a series of occurrence in the past that we have absolutely no control of.

But somehow, the pain of parting is the best that we could get to compensate what we have sacrificed. Pain can be our fuel in flying alone. In flying alone, we are alive unlike deadstars colliding and getting lost in space.

Ma'am Marj Evasco wrote to me once that I will learn to grow in beauty and wisdom because of my affinity to poetry. Poetry is all I have. No one can take it away from me. She is right. I will grow and become better.

In parting from you now, all I can leave is an excerpt of "Scaling Jade Mountain" by Ma'am Marj:

I will stand the summit air
And breathe to you
A wistful song of waiting.

Solace

Solace
(for popinjay, whom i met at dawn)

As the
distressed
winter wind
cloak my flickering
body,

all that
warms me
is the desire
to grope
for your sheer
tenderness--

suspended
in your skin-sheath
with merest
warmth.

(A friend told me that this is a very phallic poem, but i don't believe him.)

Maayong Pasko!

Maayong Pasko ka ninyong tanan! Nanghinaot ko na magmalipayon mong tanan sa inyong pagsa-ulog sa pasko og bagong tuig!
Merry Christmas to everyone! Wishing all of you a joyful celebration of Christmas and New Year!

Presents from Green Santa

"enjoy the holidays and let's keep the green snowball going, rolling..."

green santa

High Priestess

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Leaving on Advent

Walking Away

Someday, in the midst of dividing planes
there will be stones waiting to be crushed
and after the painful ordeal of dividing and crushing,
you will be sleeping in caves
with the moon patiently guiding you.
I will only be watching you shiver and
there might be crows that will visit you.
Hold on! Nostalgic night will come and in your
memory I will be a deja vu—
eternal battle you will fight with bare hands.

(for him who hides in the tin box)

The Reader

Few months ago, I borrowed 'The Reader' by Bernhard Schlink from the University Library but I was not able to finish reading it for some very personal reasons...yesterday, i stumbled into the book again...and I can't resist reading it...it's hunting me with its eternal thoughts like:

"Sometimes the memory of happiness cannot stay true because it ended unhappily. Because happiness is only real when it lasts forever? Because things always end painfully if they contained pain, conscious or unconscious, all along?"

and there's more...

"From behind, she wrapped me in the towel from head to foot and rubbed me dry. Then she let the towel fall to the floor. I didn't dare move. I could feel her breast against my back and her stomach against my behind. She was naked too. She put her hands around me, one hand on my chest and other on my erection."

C-list Blogger!

With 11 links for the past 6 months, i'm now a C-list blogger.

The Middle Authority Group (10-99 blogs linking in the last 6 months)
This contrasts somewhat with the second group, which enjoys an average age not much older than the first at 260 days and which posts 50% more frequently than the first. There is a clear correlation between posting volume and Technorati authority ranking.

Find out what kind of blogger are you...

'stoke the embers of your passion'

The person who introduced Philippine poetry to me now blogs on the mission of his passion--poetry.

Painting Words

Moon Painted on Glass

Windows of filigree, framed
with intricately shaped galvanized
iron; ornamented with fleur de lis,
symbol for power and loyalty,
and curtains embroidered with
roses, of birthing and womanhood,
all loping in motions of fidelity.

The tempest moved on all directions
making waves that sent ripples
to the dwellers and spreading
the windows that emancipated
the phantom of the old dresser.

Pinned on a thick black blanket,
the docile moon posed for the
invisible painter to complete
the image stained on glass window.
And after his final stroke,
you closed the window
caressing the clear, cold glass.

On Being Queer...

The most pathetic question a person asked me: Are you gay? Nothing could be worst. I'm not gay; I'm just efeminate! Who in Silliman would think that I'm not gay?

If there is one person in the university who is sooo proud to be gay (aside from claudio), I think that would be me...

In Sir Ian's latest post, he mentioned something about ULAP, which I personally think is the main reason why I organized that event. And here it goes...

"That being gay and lesbian in our country has since then been dragged through the mud of prejudice in the ensuing years -- through the Spanish colonial period and the American colonial period -- is unforgivable, and poetry readings such as what we had and the like are instruments one can use to fight a tyranny of prejudice that do not belong to any person who thinks himself educated and enlightened...

According to Garcia, one should give these men a reprieve from the silence. Thus we celebrate "difference" now by holding poetry readings such as the one my students had in Silliman.


More...

We should have more.Haha!

REVIEW ON GERRY ALANGUILAN'S WASTED

To be honest, I don’t really read komiks or comics!
Wasted is probably the first komik book that I read up to that last page (it was required, anyway). I remember my classmates before in elementary exchanging issues of Archie, X-MEN and a lot more, but I didn’t care much about it. It was probably because of the way komiks are structured (the conversations printed in boxes or balloons, accompanying a scene); I just did not like it. Or maybe I just did not find superheroes that interesting. They were not my type. For the most part, I was just scanning through the pages and admiring the drawings, which I wished I could also do the same.

Wasted is the typical love story of a girl leaving the guy because of another guy. Then, the guy breaks down and does everything to win back the heart of the girl. But, it’s not the typical komiks. No journalist transforming into a superhero. No man being captured by apes and lived in a secluded area in the forest. No masculine figures helping people in the midst or trouble or distress. What is evident are images of man lying on the floor bathed with blood. Bodies exploding from glass windows and bullets coming out from the head accompanied with blood.
Eric, the main character, was a member of a band and was dumped by his girlfriend Jenny, who went with another guy. His life was devastated when jenny left him. Eric expressed his anger in the most extremes way—killing, murder and death. Anger management was not part of his vocabulary.
In the first chapter, he get annoyed with a born again preacher who went knocking on his door, telling him that it was the day that he’ll be saved from all his sins. He also strangled a man to death, who was smoking inside the jeepney. Other casualties include three gays, who verbally harassed him and a corrupt politician, who tried to negotiate with him.
These are not typical scenes in the komiks, which is said to be one of the cheapest means to get a good laugh. The term ‘komiks’ came from the English word comics, which is a 20th century form of art that emerged in the United States. Komiks can be distinguished from other forms of literature because of its: illustrated frames depicting a set of characters, actions read from left to right and balloons accompanying the actions of the characters.

Wasted was illustrated and written by Gerry Alanguilan, who is a licensed architect and graduated form the University of Santo Tomas. This Laguna-based artist ahs come along way after making the decision to pursue komiks over architecture, despite the admonitions of friend and family members. He became a komik book artist after being inspired by Whilce Portacio, who was at that time drawing the “X-MEN’ for Marvel Comics.
He has since them inked various komiks of many artists including Whilce Portacio, Leinil Francis Yu, Gilbert Monsanto and Roy Allan Martines. Among his credits are ‘Stones,’ ‘Wetworks,’ ‘Grifter,’ ‘Wolverine,’ ‘X-Force,’ ‘Fantastic Four,’ and many others. He has also written and drawn ‘Timawa’ for Alamat Comics, ‘Johnny Balbona’ and ‘Lastikman’ for Mango Comics short stories for ‘Siglo: Freedom’ and ‘Siglo: Passion’ and his latest creation ‘Elmer.’
Gerry Alanguilan wrote Wasted during the most turbulent days of his life. During that time, his girlfriend did not fully understood what he was doing and she preferred the architecture stuff than komiks. Eventually, the two of them opt to choose different paths to take and he was left devastated. Also at that time, the late Nail Pozner, an editor, gave him a tests script of Green Lantern to draw. But he mess it up and his work was rejected.

Based on Soledad Reyes’ essay on komiks, I think Gerry Alanguilan did a pretty good job in Wasted, confronting with the aesthetics and functions of the Filipino komiks.
Having read it countless times, still experiencing the feeling of reading it for the first time, it is undeniably entertaining and definitely provides a temporary relief of the unbearable monotony of oppressiveness of life. With the rough and violent images of killing politicians, preachers, deviant citizens and gays due to a mere expression of anger (nothing extra-judicial or potitical), it is definitely a deviance in the monotony of life and finally something was doen to the oppressor.
What Eric did the preacher, the politician, the gays, the man smoking in the jeepney and even to his own body were only manifestations that our emotions have limits. There will come a time when we have to release our deeply suppressed emotions—such as anger, hostility and hatred—without inflicting something to the society. But this time Eric did affect the society.
I think the question of whether it provides a site where the battle of good and evil are played systematically with the forces of light eventually gaining victory over the dark forces is irrelevant in this certain story. What is significant in this story is not what is evil or what is good, but Eric has become and what has made him become that way. If he is the evil persona, what is no significant is him going to jail for killing to jail for killing those people, but what is he willing to risk in order to win back the heart of the one he loves.
Does it foster national language? Practically, it does not because of the use of a foreign language, which is English. However, there is something very Filipino to the story. It could be in the plot or the tone of the writer. It could also be in the images that Gerry Alanguilan has created or the characters like the preacher, the gays, the politician or any of them.

Until now there is still an unending debate on how to interpret literature. Whether to look at it at a piece of art and interpret it for art’s sake alone, or to put it into context and look at the social implications and relevance. But, do we have to make a choice between the two?
For this part, I will start with the latter. In reading the story, I noticed something very ‘feminist’ in the plot. This time it is the girl who leaves the guy and went with another guy. It is justified enough to say that what happened to the male persona was caused entirely by the female persona. In this story, it is no longer the female that is subordinate to the male specie. Although, I can’t see indications that in that particular society there is an established equality between both genders.
Eric was devastated when Jenny left him. He resorted to different forms of violence just to express his anger, fury and rage. All that he was asking for was Jenny to come back to his life.
In interpreting the story as art in itself, it is irrelevant to ask the question on whether Eric’s persona is good or evil. Gerry Alanguilan made Eric that way because that was how he wanted Eric to be. Eric does not represent any oppressive figure in the society or any person that Alanguilan wants to popularize.
As a whole, everything in the story including the graphics has to be there not because have special roles, but because they are part of the story that is a sheer creation of the artist’s mind. Wasted does not advocate any theory or perspective. It is a form of art based on the taste of it creator.

What I like most about wasted is the “humanness” of the story. Anger is defined as a strong feeling of displeasure of antagonism. Anger is something that is very human and an inevitable condition of the human life. People experience anger in the most complicated or most mundane situations in life.
Ever experienced encoding your ten-page term paper that is due the next day and before you finished the last page there’s a sudden power interruption, and the saddest part is that you forgot to save what you have encoded? In just a second, everything is gone. Then, you suddenly felt an upsurge of emotion and you would want to immediately crush the monitor in front of you. Now, that is anger!
Anger confronts us everyday in our lives and we have different way to cope up with it. In Eric’s case, he has a very extreme way in dealing with anger, which I actually like. If you happen to come across Eric’s way and unfortunately you annoyed him and he finds you very irritating, he just points a gun on you and in just a second—you’re gone.
The urge to kill is basically part of the human instincts. (Although, there is a moral or ethical question attached to it.) There are just certain situations in life that we want some people to just vanish instantly from this planet. I think humans resort to killing because it is probably the fastest way to get rid of the problem. That person might be the direct cause of your miseries or otherwise: He or she could be one of your political adversaries. Or she could be your nagging landlady. Or that person who sits right next to you in a restaurant and annoys you every time he or she tries to eavesdrop at you conversation with your date.
There are just certain situations in the story that you would find yourself in the character of Eric and eventually thanking him for responding in such a way that you would want to, but just could not do. There is a certain Eric in each one of us, and that I find very interesting.
Another very interesting theme in the story is what Eric has become because of love. Love is aid to be the most complicated emotion (if it such) humans could experience and it is beyond human comprehension. In Eric and every person’s case, love could either bring out the best or worst in them.
Eric loved Jenny so much. He was happy and contented with her. Jenny loved him too, but she found another guy who could make her happy aside from Eric. Eventually, Jenny broke up with him. Eric’s life was a mess when Jenny left him.
This is a painful fact of life. We fall in love so desperately to persons who will love us, but eventually fall out of love for us. We have no choice but move on, but moving on takes so much time and courage. It takes so much courage to finally say to yourself that you are no longer meant for that person.
For Eric, love made him appreciate the simple details of life. Love made him experience the best and worst things in life. Love made him do things that he never thought he could do. Love made his smile despite of the unpleasant things that are happening around him love made him want to share every beautiful thing in this planet with Jenny. Love made him human.

Wasted is the type of graphic novel that is best to read at 1 o’clock in the morning, when you have tons of things to do and sleeping is never an option. The images in this book—blood spilling out from bodies, perfectly detailed gunshots, bodies falling from buildings, bodies lying in the floor bathed with blood, bodies exploding form glass windows—will definitely awaken your senses. At the end of the story, the reader would not hate Eric despite of it.

Violence, in this case, is very entertaining. But remember—for mature readers only.

It's corny, but who cares?

And look what I've got for all hopeless romantic people and those in their 'short-term nirvana'...



Am I one of them?