Liwanag asin Diklom Susog Ki Rudy Alano

Sa banggi an kadaihan nin ribok

minapatarom sa bagting nin oras

kan simong pagturog.

An simong daing pundong pagngalas

sa kadikloman nin langit minapasabong

na ika palan matakton

pag an dating mararambong

na liwanag nin mga bituon

natatambunan nin mahibog na ambon.         

          Kagurangnan kong Diyos! Pumondo ka

na nganing kahihiling sa diklom.

Pabayae an saimong aldaw

maging ribayan nin saldang asin uran

ugma asin kulog sa simong kalamnan

verso asin pangadyi nin saimong kalag.

Baka igwa diyan nin anghel sa kadikloman

na nagtao nin kasimbagan paramientras

na ika nakaluhod, takot na minatubod.

Ngonyan an simong puso buminilang logod--

mga tiket, mga sinurat, mga ritrato,

mga subang nginisihan, mga kinantang lahos

miski ngani mga serbesang nainom--mamate lang

kun ano man yan senyal nin Diyos.

Na sa kadikloman an Diyos. Sa buhay.

Pero hilinga--an langit minaliwanag giraray

pag minahulog an uran, ini minasalak

sa daing-pundong hinangos nin dagat; an burak

minahalat sa saldang asin an saldang minataong buhay

sa daga asin sa tubo nin kakahoyan

asin an banggi minagayon pag simong nakakaptan

an nagbabados na tulak kan simong namomotan

na padagos minahangos sa kasulok-suloki

kan saimong kalag.

                         Asin duman sa dai ta aram

na istaran may sarong anghel sa kadikloman na dai

makatubod sa nadadangog niyang daing-pundong

bagting nin simong puso.

"Sabihi Daw Ko, Padi Kun Ano Man Ning Sinasabi Tang Buhay"

ni Rudy Alano. 

Sinusog hali sa Haliya: Anthology of Bikol Poets and Poems 

ni Ma. Lilia F. Realubit, NCCA, mayong petsa.

Extension work

You have been doing extension work for quite a while. 

As time passes, you see the difficulty of researchers and extension workers in expressing themselves and taking pride in their output, which some of them even fondly call their labor of love. 

Consider the regional symposium you are now tasked to cover.  You listen to the researcher who sounds awkward presenting the project on the production of this crop. During the panel evaluation, you pity her because the evaluator loudly scores points off the study because it lacks the right methodology. The national crops expert tells in her face that the study being reported presents only commonsensical information that needs neither explanation nor further study. You realize from among the crowd she turns out to just fill in to report for the said study. She virtually “extended” her services for her absentee fellow researcher.

While the other researchers may be articulate in the technology they must have studied, er, mastered in all their 20 years or something of government service, you find it revolting that they do not sound good in their English. They sound funny speaking in their borrowed language. In the presentations conferences and contests, what you will appreciate are those who are well versed in their studies as they are fluent in speaking the technical terms in English.

You wonder whether there have been efforts through the years in the academic world to allow for researches to be written in the Filipinos’ native language, if the purpose is to advance the technologies and not how the English-speaking world understands or wants to receive them.

Why does the presenter who is fluent in English impress you more? The mussel community researcher sounds fishy to you because he has this twang, an accent probably spoken in one northern town of this province.

Sadly, because you were taught English this way and not that way, you yourself are isolated from what you see and hear. The Filipino tongue that makes the most correct English inflections sound more pleasing and seem to merit your attention. You rather notice the researcher who could not fully express his efs and vees. To you he sounds less persuasive. His wrong enunciations distract you that you don’t want to reconsider what he has to say while he is being aided by his PowerPoint slides.

Further in the presentation sessions, you notice the presenter on biogas digester did not use parallel structures in his objectives. You wonder if he cares about these at all. He even sounds like a military general who cannot distinguish his e’s from his i’s. He reminds you of the military chief over the television who munches English as if it were peanuts.

You ask when you can start to admire.

Here, you realize that everyone presenting the study for scrutiny might as well have the heart to extend to what other people have to say about their labors of love; extend further to see whether they are valid judgments so they can improve the study. Extend further to understand, if the said judgments are rather prejudiced and therefore should only be ignored.

This presenter on site-specific nutrient management very well understands her figures as she reports her rice research. Asking her questions now, the panel evaluator sounds like she speaks the same language. It seems she is going to win because they sound alike when they begin the discussion. Perhaps she will win the top prize in this summit because the presenter’s words slide into your ears and your sensibility.  Other extension workers seem to mince words. But she doesn’t. Does this study prove to have more social impact than those presented by less articulate ones? While there are criteria set for all this research business, you start to wonder who deserves the prize.

An Dakulang Natad

Suddenly, last summer

Iyo Po, Isinisikwal Ko

Enchanted in Iligan

Thinkers and Theorists

Mother and Child

An Samong Kakanon sa Aroaldaw

Bikoliana

O My Boracay

Ibalong Gallery

The Predictables

Rating:	★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Action & Adventure

Do not watch Sylvester Stallone’s "The Expendables."

The film features perhaps all the biggest action stars who came and went in your lifetime: Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwazenegger (most probably in cameo roles); British Jason Statham, Asian Jet Li, Russian Dolph Lundgren, American wrestler Steve Austin, et.al., but it hugely, hugely fails to deliver the right punches.

Putting too many action stars in one movie is the stupidest thing to do because each of them is a master(piece) in his own right that he needs ample airtime to deliver sensible action entertainment, and because the action star is no less than himself.

It is a sorry movie with a highly worn-out storyline. Like any action flick, the film’s main characters are called to mission to save the world before the day ends. So what else can we expect?

Here it is as if Sly’s character Barney Ross leads a band of "elite mercenaries" [read: tambay or jobless bystanders] named The Expendables sporting in their Harley-Davidsons a Guns&Roses logo, but who were only made to appear they just needed money from working in the movie and in the story in the movie. It’s funny the actors’ characters’ themselves belabor the issue of paychecks for quite a while in the film.

Stallone then contracts Bruce Willis’s Mr. Church to give him and his men a project, very much like a regional research proposal in dire need of funding from the national office. Barney Ross's rival, Schwazenegger’s character Trench, refuses any involvement as he goes out of the church with Stallone saying maybe he wants to be president. Cameo.

The men then go to the island of Vilena where Eric Roberts' Monroe terrorizes and blackmails a despotic general ruling a Latin-American village a la Castro. The once-idyllic Vilena is where the action starts and ends.

End of story.

While the movie is hackneyed it doesn’t offer anything new but a reworking of cassava (read: staple) roles, it also rendered interesting insights on the action stars themselves. Hahaha.

First, the movie made Stallone’s face look like a great waxwork that one more Vicky Belo job would make his face legendary as Michael Jackson [and his face]. Second, Willis and Schwazenegger’s less than two-minute exposure will not win them any Oscars like Judy Dench’s Queen Elizabeth did in "Shakespeare in Love" as it does not do anything to save the movie. At best, they’re reduced to phantoms and additional utility workers in the movie’s line-item budget. In the Philippine film glossary, they will surely be top-billed as "with the special participation of." Such waste of talent, or more aptly, such wasted talents.

It is as if Stallone only assembled the stars in one barangay meeting so as to make the sensible Mickey Rourke a tattoo beautician tinkering with paints and needles in the Expendables’ talyer [a neighborhood machine shop], waste the precious time of Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren to stage an awfully funny mismatch. Another one: it also made Steve Austin’s brawny physique dumber than dumb as the worst alalay [sidekick] for the aging Eric Roberts.

Saving grace? Here it is. While the Asian success named Jet Li is given a limited role he virtually wasted his time waiting for action to happen, and it did not, and while his shortness is berated in the entire script, he used it to his advantage when he fights the gigantic Dolph Lundgren in a restaging of the David and Goliath story. Wuhuhu. More interestingly enough, his character’s constant desire to earn more money so he could provide for his family saves [and very well speaks for] this Asian sensibility.

On the whole, watching this movie is like buying fresh oranges from the sidewalk vendor. The fruit looks too tangy as it is very, very orange. But when you then remove the fresh-looking rind, the rind covers a dried-up membrane inside.

Nowadays, imported movies are like imported fruits. It’s the same experience. These days, it’s only appearances [that are made to] matter. [You don’t even know where the ponkan fruit came from. Reading further information on these cheap imports, you may learn that the fruit is a genetically modified treat stuffed with all chemicals needed to grow it.] Substance is secondary, relegated to the side. You are conned however you’d like to see it.

Watching the movie in the mall is worth more than a hundred pesos, but its real value should even be cheaper than a 20-peso DVD which you can perhaps haggle in the Delgado sidewalk.

Not only that it is not worth your money, it will also make you puke in the movie house because of the dizzying action scenes which are virtually a hodgepodge of computer generated images (CGIs). Here you cannot ignore the gore just because it reminds you of Counterstrike matches your nephew loves to play some six years ago. But you would not see real (meaning: simulated) action in the movie.

You will be forced to watch, but you will not be entertained. Because movies today are only computer generated stuff, you need not fret to catch its last run in the next three days. Better watch your son kill his character’s enemies with finesse and genius in DotA (Defense of the Ancients) on your PC at home. That, for sure, is a real-time live action at best.

Misnomers

Passing Molo plaza, you see a billboard bearing the city officials’ names and faces and flaunting a title given by a national entity that Iloilo is one of the “highly urbanized cities” across the country. Upon reading this claim, which rather only looks like a political poster of the officials simply because their names are spelled bigger than the citation itself, you begin to wonder.

You wonder whether the phrase isn’t too lofty a statement, especially because only a week ago, you were trapped inside the mall because the city’s main thoroughfares were flooded after only a few minutes of heavy rain. You wonder whether this speaks truth about a city whose streets reek of garbage and God-knows-what because of its clogged sewers.

Highly urbanized. Who said so? Shouldn’t the people from Iloilo themselves claim this? You wonder whether the phrase rather refers to the increased number of fast food outlets, BPO centers or BDO banks mushrooming every week everywhere. Seriously the phrase is given wrongly if it were to mean a progressive city. Your city cannot claim progress just because many establishments mushroom in and crowd the city and clog its sewers every single day. The clogged city sewers underground which could hardly be seen by an ordinary city dweller on an ordinary day only prove this claim very wrong.

You think twice, then. Maybe highly urbanized really means: Ati families lining the sidewalks or taong grasa living in the footbridges downtown because the city’s DSWD cannot offer them alternatives. Or perhaps highly urbanized means a new outlet of Andok’s or Mang Inasal whose daily garbage in front of their food tables smells like fart and rotting chickens.

Going further down the city on a Mohon Terminal-Villa jeepney, you try to seek some logic. Ah, yes, perhaps. Iloilo City is highly urbanized because recently it launched the new flyovers.

Passing the John B. Lacson maritime school, you wonder why your jeepney does not pass over the flyover. You wonder why you do not fly over. You are running late for an appointment because the jeepney is inching its way to get to the General Luna-Diversion Road intersection.

You assume the driver does not have to pass the flyover if he were to save for his family’s Passover. Why should he pass there when it obviously does not have any passengers for him to pick up? So now you are left only to look at the flyover, the towering structure above you where not so many cars and jeepneys pass.

So you go with the flow, joining a procession of cars slowing down into one direction, squeezing into whatever spaces are left by the blockade rendered by the flyover.

You think it is laughable that this small city has to build flyovers. Funny, everyone in their seats is rushing to get to their destination, while the flyover, which ought to facilitate traffic, is unmoving. It’s just too s[t]olid to care.

No, flyover; maybe it is an apt term for the structure.  Because below it, your mind now wanders; that it wants to “fly over” the reality that you’re running late to meet visitors from the national office in a city hostel.

But progress? No, flyovers do not mean progress. The structures rather block the progress for the people of the city. It delays students from their classes; it delays workers from their offices. The big structures that block wider passageways physically rob people of their spaces. Traffic congestion can never be removed by blocking the street itself with a prominent structure that rises and descends in less than 500 meters or so.

Aren’t flyovers supposed to redirect traffic in order to avoid bottlenecks and traffic glitches? But here you are, an ordinary city dweller, eternally trapped below the flyover. You realize that the structure is a farce for the city’s progress, because it does not bring you anywhere when you need it. It only delays you from going where you need to go.

Your mind has really just flown over. Your car has been unmoving for a long time. You think of explaining why you were late to meet your visitors. No wonder you now scram to alight from the jeepney at General Luna because your visitors from the national office must have been through eating their hotel breakfast and perhaps could not wait on you anymore. So you run, still bent on meeting them on time. At the hotel’s entrance, the big sign of the room rates again scream at you: “Economy P750.”

Economy, P750. Can this be another name applied in error? Perhaps the term applies to what ordinary Ilonggos can afford. Or does it mean to say it’s the reflection of the city’s economy? You ask again whether an ordinary Ilonggo can afford this economy. You wonder whether he or she can ever afford the city’s economy. Or are the city hotels only made for tourists like your visitors from the national office who could afford them because the travel papers you have arranged say they are on official business?

You now meet your visitors in earnest, complete with pleasantries and stuff. And after your cups of coffee which were paid for by your government agency’s office, you engage your visitors in a conversation about your good performance with your clients in the past quarter. You try to sound like you helped ordinary people a lot in their business which provides livelihood to many more.

You claim to them that these people have been helped by your intervention, but you can hardly cite the facts and figures that can attest to it. Have they been helped by what you did? How come they still depend on you on matters that concern their businesses? How come they would still ask for your lobbying to pay for their booth rental in the recent mall exhibit that they wanted to join?

When you report matters to the visitors from your national office, you speak as if you were able to help many marginalized and underprivileged people in your detail. You sound as if you have always improved people’s lives or helped them progress, so that these national people who think they know better could help you as if  they were messiahs sent to save the people in Iloilo from a sorry situation.

You don't wonder if you are a blabbering misnomer yourself.

Sunday's Best

Pagsimba mo nin aga sa kapilya, dakul an nagkumpisal. Sa enot na Domingo, hininguha guro nindang mainaan an kasa’lan. Dai ka nakalikay sa sermon kan pading uro-utro kan sinasabi manongod sa mga tawong pigpaparabaralik-balikan an dating kasa’lan. Kaipuhan mo gayod arugon an babaying parakasalang nagbuybuy sagkod nahingawan pagkatapos na mayo ni sarong nagdaklag saiya ta nganing maghusga.

Hali sa kapilya, nagdiretso ka sa dagat bago mag-uli. Maati, dakulon nin pa’lit pero dakul na kaakian an nagkakararigos. Magayon gayod malinigan an saimong hawak kan tubig na maaskad. Dai na sana lugod, saboot mo. Sa harong nindo pag-abot mo igwang nag-uurumpukan sa may kubo. 

Igwa nang nag-alok magtagay alagad mayo ka saindang tini’no. Sa laog ka kan harong nindo dire-diretso. An tambayan kan kuta' na katiri'nuhan dudulagan mo. Saboot mo igwa ka nin sarong aldaw para magsaklit maski kadikit.

Hunio 1, Huwebes

Nagtatakig an dahon

kan lubi-lubi. Garo idtong

tipuson sa bangging bulanon.

Pagbolos kan uran, ini nagin

algodon sa tubig na sinaghom

kan sinarom, daing kasing-itom.

Kan maghuyop an amihan, nahulog, 

narakdag, sarong kalag kagian.

Nagsaod Si Kulas Sarong Aldaw

Masiramon si tinao mo sako

kan sarong aldaw.

Pirang aldaw na’kong naghahanap

sa saod’kun bakong maalsumon

ta rulumbod pa, ralanog,

o rumo nang marhay, minsan

an iba inuurulod pa’daing data.

Marhay ta nata’wan mo ako

kan haloy ko nang hinahanap.

Kiisay pa daw digdi an may marhay na klase?

May aram ka?

O, ta iyo daw, maray man, Ne

ta’yaon na saimo

an kaipuhan kong makua.

Mabuwelta na sana ako

digdi sa payag-payag mo

sa talipapa, tibaad sa otro aga.

Sige Ne, ta’ tawad na baga pating marhay ini;

d’yata sabi mo buena-mano man ako

sa duwang kilong balimbing na ini

na lala’sayon kan nangingidam

kong agom.

Puwede niya man baga ining 

idutdot sa asin, ano?

Once There Was A Love

Kan ako sadit pa, pitong taon o labi pa,
Natood nang magtukad sa bukid sa pamitisan kan Isarog
Para magkua nin omlong, pala’pa’, mga sungong panggatong
Kaibahan si Manoy na an sundang nasasarong,
Minsan poon alas dos hasta maghapon.
Sa bukid nungka maguguton dawa mahapunan
Huli ta an kakanon makukua saen man:
Mga bayawas na hinog, an iba inuulod,
Kurumbot na hubal, minsan daeng laog,
Santol na Bangkok, sinasakat sa may ba’bul
Manggang maalsom, dae maabot kun tinutukdol.
Abang ogma kan panahon, sa itaas kan bulod madoroson.
Hiling an banwa asin dagat na mahiwason.
Dakul akong naoosipon pag-uli sa harong na magayon,
Lalo na ki Neneng maogmahon
Kaibahan ko paglabar pag abot kan sinarom.
Malipoton na tubig hale sa bobon na hararom
Nakakahale nin hibo kan amor seco saka gogon.
Kun maghaloy magbuntog, an tubig ma-libog;
Parehong mahahadit ta baad mahagupit-
Kaskas an kutipas pasiring kan kusina
Para madulagan an gihoy ni Mama.
Pero kun an gubing baging bolos na
Ta kinua hale sa mga bagong laba
Si Mama mayo nang masabi pa-apuwera
Apodon an gabos para mag-orasyon
Sa altar kan Sagrado Corazon na minsan milagrohon.
Dangan kayan an pagmate ko garo nakarigosan
Dawa baga naglabar lang;
An kaogmahan yaon lang
Kaiba an magurang asin mga tugang.

Some Questions

Pa'no ka makakasurat nin tulang matatarom?
Pa'no ka makakagibo nin bersong manana'gom?
Dai ka man basang na sanang matukaw sa gilid,
maparatais kan pansurat mo, dangan tadok sa papel
na mumwestrahon mo an gayon kan si babaying
nakataid mo sa Cathedral kan Domingo.
 
An tamang tataramon minaarabot; manlaen-laen 

na tataramon: manatok, maragamo, mangilo, mabata
minsan saro-saro, minsan surunod-sunod,
nag-iirinotan, rinibong damulag nagtatarandayag,
an uran naghahagawak sa mapa kan saimong payo.

An gayon kan expression tuyong minadulok
bagaman nagpapahiling kan sadiri, o naghahalat sana
sa atubang mo; babaying sa banggi minasaprang 

na sana sa braso mo para durogon mo, dai lamang 

naghahalat kan diskarte mo, dai ka tata'wan panahon 

na mag-isip, tulos tataranyogon an kaintirohan mo.
An pinakamarhay kaiyan, sabi kan iba diyan,
maghalat ka sana, ta maabot an sinasabi ninda,
pero an pandiurag na istorya maabot man nanggad
maski dai mo halaton, dawa daing antisipasyon.

Sabuot mo, matunganga ka na sana sa diklom?
Magparapanhikap ka nin mga layug-layog astang ika 

makaturog? Dai man daw kaipuhan magpaimbung ka 

kan payo sa ulunan nganing igwa kang mahilumluman?

Sabadong Aga sa McDo Katips

Nawawalat sa dila ko 
an hamis kan Sundae McDip.

A, iyo, huminiling ka na sako,

O, ano? Sige, turuhok lang;

kun mababasog ka baga ka’yan.

Mayo akong magigibo.

Hiling sana ta baad lamang

mawalat an memorya

kan maimbong mong paghiling

sa gilid kan wala kong mata.

Ngonyan ka man lang nanggad

huminiling sako, o kansubago pa?

An lipot kan Nestle Lemonade Pomelo

naggigira sa halanuhan ko,

Nahiling mo na’yan!

An matamis mong turuhok maaaliwalas 
sa lalawgon; an maimbong na presensya;

nagpapalibog, napapatindog sa natuturog,

nagpapala’tog, (an tultol nagiging bulabog).

Sige, hinihiling mo pa man nanggad ako

tinuturuhukan, hinuhubaan, ano man 
nanggad an magiginibo ko?

Garong mayo man gayo. Inom lang kita, 
kakan lang. Kakan, sapa, kakan, kakan, sapa.

O, nuarin ka pa mahiling giraray sako,

pagtungkahal ko tibaad dai ka na nakahiling:

A, iyo pa, hilinga daw yan; 
nakaturuhok ka pa sako,

alagad lagbas an hiling mo,

lagbas sa lanob, lagbas sa salming.

Hiling na; hiling pa. Mayong 
problema iyan sako.

Basta baga pagkatapos kong

mag-inom sa basong kamabaw an yelo,

mababasog ka na pag nagbuhat 
na ako sa tukawan. Maduman na’ko.

Kalinturádo

Maimbúng na maráy an tamóng na tinitípig ko

Sa kátre ming mag-agóm ngonyán na ága.

Garó itóng bángging piglábaran akó ni Nánay

Pagkatápos kong mágparabátad háli pagkáwat.

O itóng bángging pigbányusan niya si Dódoy

Tápos pinainóm siya nin gina’gang lákad-búlan.

Pag sunód na bánggi, pigparakúgos niya akó

Pagkatápos siyang págparakastahan ni Tátay.

Dai dáa kayá pigmamarángno an mgá áki nindá

Kayá gabós dáa kamí kinákaralintúra na saná.

Kalinturádo an mgá lúhang duminalíhig háli

Sa pisngí niya na nágtururó sa laláwgón ko.

Mayo man nanggad naginibo si Nanay

Para ako maumayan, para ako marahay.

Sa kátre ming mag-agóm atyán na bánggi,

Pagpaparalamudáon niya na namán akó.

Dai namán ako dudurugon kan agóm ko.

Garó daa kayá ‘ko pírming may hílang.

Bagacay, 1942

Susog sa Obra ni Clemente Manaog

Kan si Rafael San Andres mga pitong taon pa sana, dahil naman gayod sa kahisdulan, igwang nakalaog na crayola sa saiyang dungo. Mga pirang aldaw an nag-agi, mala ta maski ano an gibohon kan ina niyang si Visitacion, dai nanggad mahali-hali an crayola sa dungo kan aki.

Kan bulan na iyan, Mayo, igwa nin pa-Flores si Visitacion sa saindang harong sa Iraya. Dawa na ngani gayod makulugon ang dungo, nin huli ta igwa baya nin tandan na sopas na tanggo saka galleta an mga  aki, nagbale sa Flores si Rafael.

Sa saday na harong ni Visitacion, an mga aki minadarara nin mga sampaguita, gumamela, dahlia, dahon nin cypres na ginurunting na saradit. Maparangadie muna an mga gurang mantang an mga aki nakaturukaw sa salog. Dangan maabot sa cantada an pagpangadie ninda sa Espaniol. Dangan maabot sa parte na an mga aki masarabwag kan mga dara nindang burak sa altar ni Inang Maria. Magkapirang beses masabwag an mga aki nin mga burak segun sa cantada.

Sa mga pagsabwag ni Rafael kan saiyang mga burak sa altar, basang na sanang tuminubrag hali sa dungo niya an crayola. Nagparaomaw si Visitacion asin daing untok na nagpasalamat sa nangyari. Nin huli man sa nangyari, nangayo-ngayo si Visitacion na gigibohon kan pamilya an Flores de Mayo sa masurunod pang taon bilang pasasalamat sa pagkahali kan crayola sa dungo ni Rafael.

Poon kaidto sagkod ngonyan, pinapadagos kan pamilya ni Visitacion San Andres an saiyang panata na dae mababakli ni isay man. Hasta ngonyan, tinutungkusan kan pamilya San Andres an pasasalamat kan saindang mga apoon, patunay na binibisto kan tawo an karahayan kan Mas Nakakaorog.

Bisto Mo Ko, Ne? Ako Si Kulas

Bisto mo ko, Ne? Ako si Kulas,
idtong nanuparan mo kadto sa patubas.
Pagkahiling mong ito sako sa may luwas,
kadakuldakul na ayam sa daghan ko kuminurutipas.

Bisto mo ko, Ne? Ako ‘ni, si Kulas.
Nagkarigos ako sa salog, inihugas langkawas.
Pag sinarom sa bintana mo ika an nagbukas,
inawitan ta ka kaiba kan sakong kuwerdas.

Bisto mo ko, Ne? Si Kulas, abaana ‘yan.
Sarong banggi pigparakamros mo ko sa daghan.
Nagdagitab an ulunan sa liwanag kan bulan;
gusto ta kang magpondo pero habo mo man.

Bisto mo ko, Ne? Si Kulas baga ako.
Siisay itong kaakbay mo kansubago?
Saen mo nabisto ining Poncio Pilato?
Ta’no kinakabit ka kan maski kun sin-o?

Bisto mo ko, Ne? Ako baga ‘ni, si Kulas.
Ining Polanong winalat mo sana sa luwas,
gabos sa palibot ko kan uran binabagunas;
hilnga, rungas sa daghan ko asta ngonyan la’bas.

Brownout Blues

Mayo nang kuryente dai pa ngani alas-otso.
Dai niya lugod naplantsa si isusûlot mo;
Nagparagpadag ka na sana sa tinampo;
Pasiring sa trabaho rulukot lalawgon mo.

Pag udto an kuryente nagawarâ-warâ.
An Game 4 sa TV kan opisina napondong bigla;
Wala-tuo, taas-baba sige kang parapanlamudâ;
Raway mo sa Casureco mas maharang pa sa ladâ.
 
Naghapon mayong nag-andar na electric fan.
Nagbungkaras ka lugod sa init, sa alungaang,
Patuyatoy ka na sa mga migo mo sa luwasan;
Mga bote na ang kapot sa tungod kan tindahan.
 
Banggi na palsok pa an ilaw sa saindong sala.
Si Nene mo may darang esperma hali sa kusina;
Nahiling mo si umboy nagtuturog na sa kuna;
Dai ka na makahalat magladop sa kama.

Brownout Blues

Mayo nang kuryente dai pa ngani alas-otso.
Dai niya lugod naplantsa si isusûlot mo;
Nagparagpadag ka na sana sa tinampo;
Pasiring sa trabaho rulukot lalawgon mo.

Pag udto an kuryente nagawarâ-warâ.
An Game 4 sa TV kan opisina napondong bigla;
Wala-tuo, taas-baba sige kang parapanlamudâ;
Raway mo sa Casureco mas maharang pa sa ladâ.
 
Naghapon mayong nag-andar na electric fan.
Nagbungkaras ka lugod sa init, sa alungaang,
Patuyatoy ka na sa mga migo mo sa luwasan;
Mga bote na ang kapot sa tungod kan tindahan.
 
Banggi na palsok pa an ilaw sa saindong sala.
Si Nene mo may darang esperma hali sa kusina;
Nahiling mo si umboy nagtuturog na sa kuna;
Dai ka na makahalat magladop sa kama.

Bisto Mo Ko, Ne? Ako Si Kulas.

Bisto mo ko, Ne? Ako si Kulas, 
idtong nanuparan mo kadto sa patubas. 
Pagkahiling mong ito sako sa may luwas, 
kadakuldakul na ayam sa daghan ko kuminurutipas. 

Bisto mo ko, Ne? Ako ‘ni, si Kulas. 
Nagkarigos ako sa salog, inihugas langkawas. 
Pag sinarom sa bintana mo ika an nagbukas,
inawitan ta ka kaiba kan sakong kuwerdas.

Bisto mo ko, Ne? Si Kulas, abaana ‘yan.
Sarong banggi pigparakamros mo ko sa daghan. 
Nagdagitab an ulunan sa liwanag kan bulan; 
gusto ta kang magpondo pero habo mo man.

Bisto mo ko, Ne? Si Kulas baga ako. 
Siisay itong kaakbay mo kansubago? 
Saen mo nabisto ining Poncio Pilato? 
Ta’no kinakabit ka kan maski kun sin-o?

Bisto mo ko, Ne? Ako baga ‘ni, si Kulas. 
Ining Polanong winalat mo sana sa luwas, 
gabos sa palibot ko kan uran binabagunas; 
hilnga, rungas sa daghan ko asta ngonyan la’bas.

The View from Mt. Mayon

Certain dimensions are altered

by chance height or

deliberate distance.

On this slope at 25 hundred feet

rivers and roads,

hills and houses

Shrink. Even the sea is changed,

becomes a kitchen plate of blue—

so empty, so new.

And this proud breast-mountain

turns into a fulcrum

for the universe—

Brings us to the company of stars:

beyond its graveled

bouldered peak,

We hear the arguments of suns,

the briefs of planets,

judgments of galaxies.

We hear the relevance of men questioned:

our politics and terrors,

our many gods and treasures

into awesome absurdities reduced.

Luis Cabalquinto

The Literary Apprentice 47:2, November 1974, 74.

Do Not Judge the Book by Its Cover

Ining mahibog na paperback
obra kan babaying nakablusang puti—
“our ground time here will be brief”–
an titulo niya, kaya gayod an author
mismo an yaon sa enot na pahina.

Ini man saro enot daang collection
kan hoben na author kaya siguro
mahipis man sana. Tubig an yaon
sa prantera—kun basahon mo garo
an mga obra maestra, barasa-basa
an papel kan gabos na tawo saiya,
lamos-lamos kaanggotan an kada rima.

May sarong tinatakan na “discarded”—
tapos sabi sa likod, magayon daa
an naenot niyang libro, poetry selection kan 1972. 
Dai mo tulos maburubuklat
an cover, first name kan author peter.

Igwang saro na gibo daa nin poet lauriat—
baad may mga appetizer an tula niya,
o igwang epigrams kada chapter ninda—
dangan haralabaon an iba, o an pira
pinangararan niya sa amiga; mas gwapa
kun raging an mga tsismis sa iba—
dai ka mangalas garo mahihinggustuhan ka.

Sa blurb man kan saro, kan ginigibo daa
kan author an mga obra, tinabangan siya
kan sarong anghel. Haloy man siguro sindang
nagdurog kan saiyang musa; kan dai sinda
nagkauyon sa sarong metapora, tinuwadan siya
kan kapareha; mayo nin ibang yaon
sa cover niya, kundi balukag na sana.

Magayon ining saro ta garo kadakul
pangyayari sa saro sanang tema—
an ama kan kag-obra. Tibaad nagkahilang
si ama niya, tapos narahay. Tapos nagkahilang
giraray, tapos narahay. Tapos nagadan.
Sa huring pahina, nagpaparataram an ama
sa irarom kan daga—an cover niya
garo dai matapostapos na lapida.

Babayi ginkawatan sa simbahan

“Babayi ginkawatan sa simbahan”—thus read the headline in Hublas several months ago. I was traveling to Roxas City at the time when I caught glance of this banner printed in big boldface. Just as I was about to make out something further on the paper, the Ceres bus had already wheeled away from the Tagbak terminal.


I thought it was fine. I did not need to read the news story anymore. The headline in Hiligaynon was enough for me, a Bikolano, to assume what it was about. I smiled.


I knew what the Hublas headline meant in Hiligaynon—a woman must have been pick-pocketed or stolen of her property while she was inside the church. Yet, if I found roughly the same headline on a Bikol newspaper, the headline would rather mean something more sinister than petty theft.


There were at least three words in the headline which I readily understood. In Bikol, “babayi” also means woman, and “simbahan,” obviously one coined from Tagalog, means church.


The third word—kawat—is also a Bikol word. The anomaly lies in the word “kawat” which is the content word in the headline, even as it determines the “what” of the news story. Minus the Hiligaynon prefix gin- (the Bikol parallel prefix is pig-), the word “kawat” in Bikol means “to play.”


Depending on the context given, the word “kawat” in Bikol means “leisure,” but can even be used to infer sexual connotation, as in “sexual play,” or like someone “played with something or someone and took for leisure,” as in “kinawatan” or “pigkawatan.”


It thrills me to know and understand these two amazing languages—Bikol and Hiligaynon. While there are countless words in both Bikol and Hiligaynon which have the same meanings or interpretations, there are instances wherein the meaning of one word means two different things, or extremely the opposite.


Take the case of the word “daog.” In Hiligaynon, daog is an adjective meaning “winning, or ruling over.” In Bikol, however, the same concept of competition is indicated by the word daog, only that it means the opposite—“daog” means someone who has lost, ironically not the one who won. Furthermore, the counterpart of Hiligaynon’s “daog” is Bikol’s “gana” or “nanggana;” while Hiligaynon’s loser, “perde,” is also “loser” in Bikol.


Bikol and Hiligaynon are two distinct languages perhaps born of the same parent. Or is it safe to say they are two peas in a pod? Sometimes, words in both languages mean the same thing; but in many other instances, they do not.


And as it turned out in this example of a newspaper headline so well phrased to capture the short-attention span of the street reader, the Bikol language turns out to be the more sinister, only if we consider the word “kawat.”


Reading it normally as a Bikolano, I found the story behind the Hublas headline rather tragic—a woman was sexually abused, or worse, raped in the church.


If at all permitted, the full Bikol headline would now read—Babayi pigkawatan sa simbahan” or “babayi pigkarawan sa simbahan,” which extends the meaning further away. Here, the use of the word “karaw” subjects the woman to all possible forms of abuse, superstitious, real, imagined or otherwise.


If we think a bit further, perhaps the woman who was stolen of her belongings in the church—if at all that was the story in the Hublas issue—was nothing but the Hiligaynon language itself being raped by the Bikol sensibility.


The expression is innocently accurate and truthful in Hiligaynon, but the Bikol’s understanding departs from its original sense.


It thrills me to know two languages—Bikol and Hiligaynon. Given a certain expression containing words that are actively used in both languages, I am flung open to endless possibilities of meaning.

Siling Ninda

Maurag ka, siling ninda.
Napalagda mo na sa Willprint
an bago mong mga rawitdawit.
Si mga tawong pinabarasa mo
nagkakabarangit; an iba nag-iirinit.
An lengwahe mo daa abang lanit.
Kaidto, bago ka’yan, sabi ninda
maartehon ka man lang daa.


Uragon ka, siling ninda.
Pagkatapos kan si palabas mo
'urupakan si mga nakadaralan. Yaon
si Nathan Sergio pati si Mayor Robredo.
Kaidto, bago ka’yan, hulit kan migo mo
maghanap ka na lang ibang magigibo.


Mauragon ka, siling ninda.
Nasurat mo na an haloy na kutang nobela.
Garo daa ki Gamalinda.
Tapos si Isagani Cruz pa an mabasa.
Kaidto, bago ka’yan, siling ninda
may delusions of grandeur ka daa.

Duwang Tigsik

I


Tigsik ko ining mga akusado
pag may vista, baga na mga kutuhon
na kalaw garo mga rungaw-rungaw 


II
Tigsik ko ining abogada 
an edad garo nang kwarenta 
'laba na an dungo kahahambog 
mga rungaw pigpaparasururog. 






Susog sa Obra ni Gaile Prado, abogado
Oktubre 2004 

Firing Squad, Bagacay Chapel, June 1978

Dos anyos ka digdi na kara-karga kan ina mo—nakatukaw kamo sa puro kan halabang bangko. Dawa ngani minumuruta ka pa, sa liog mo yaon an gabat kan mga luha kan nabalo mong ina. Nagpaparahibi siyang nakahiling ki Manoy mo, matua nindong tugang. Hilinga an ba’ba’ ni Nene mo—an ngudoy na garo nang masasa’bitan nin kaldero sa laba, nagpapastidyo sa ina, nagngunguyngoy sa dai niya aram na pagkawara. Malinaw an sentenciang ginibo kan binayadan na ritratista. Sa sarong pitik kan lente niya, nakuanan nin ladawan an pinakamamondong istorya. Nakahilira kamong mga nailo sa halabang bangko, anom gabos—naghahalat nin sentensya kan panahon na ngapit pa.

Pig Latin

Pigpaparagiribo mo an mga bagay na ninonoynoy mo
na garo sinda mayo lamang nin kamanuelvillaran. 


Pigpaparadelosreyes mo an mga tawong piniperlas 
mo na garong dai mo sinda pagsasayasayan.


Pigbabayani mo an mga maerap sa banwaan 
na roxas mo saimo hali an mga kabibinayan. 

Pacquiao vs. Clottey

Minapoon pa sana an boxing sa TV paturuyatoy na an mga taga-barangay ta makikidalan sa tuytuyan na linagan nin telon sa natad kan kapitan.  Mayo nin malaog ngonyan sa tinapayan—mayong linuto na tinapay kansubanggi. Pagkahapon na pinapabaralik an tumatawo sa bakery. Yaon palan si ilusyon ni Jonalyn hali pang detachment sa Maysalay. Sabi kan daraga duman daa padayonon an bisita sa panaderya. Daing sabi sabi an duwa nagsarado sa panaderya. Pagkalaog pa sana ninda sa tindahan pigpaparahadukan na kan Cafgu an daraga. Dai nakakapalag an babaye sa purusog na pamugol kan bisita. An irarom kan estante nagpaparayugyog, an mga hurmahan nagkakahurulog.

Speaking in Tongues

Basi wala man gid sing kaayuhan

dito sa balat ng lupa. Tibaad an

tanan nga mga bagay sa kalibutan

waay man sing kamanungdanan.

Baad dai mo man kinahanglan matultulan

an mga pulong sang kamatuoran, if at all.

Is it not that you must live the very words

na inspired ni Bro & not just read about him?

Kay you’d just tend to ask more questions

re this Prince of Peace —the way, truth, life—

than just easily tag a photo of him.

Basi simpli sana man an boot silingon

sang mga sugilanon sa ginatawag

nga salvation history: An aton kaluwasan

Daw nabal-an na man kahit noon pa

ng sabi nila’y isang bula-an na poeta:

“Have Come, Am Here,” sabi niya.

Okun basi sakto gid man si San Agustin—

“My soul is restless” kuno “until it rests

in thee...” or something to that effect.

Bakong sabi ta simpli man lang?

An hapot eu ni, in ur lyf, wer &

wen & how ds He take efkt?

Garo palan bulong, may taking effect;

garo ordinance, may effect ti vi ty.

Bakong an sabi daa sana man simpli? Uni.

1 message received: “Wer na u? here na He.”

Magayonon Gayod Pag Gadan Na

Magayonon gayod pag gadan na ako.

Dai ko na mahahangos an mabataon

na tambotso kan mga awtong maaragi

sa kamposanto. Dai ko na mababasa

an tarpaulin kan pulitiko na ipinantrapal

sa kabaong ko ta nagparauran nin makusog

paglubong sako. Dai ko na madadangog

an hibi kan mga aki na nagdadaragian,

nagpapastidyo sa magurang kan mga nakilubong.

Dai na ko mabisa sa mga tiyuon na puru’nguton.

Dai ko na kaipuhan ti’nuhon pa an mga pinsan

kong hambogon. Matangis man siguro an agom ko

pero dai ko na madadangog an saiyang dayuyu.

Awit ni Awel

Papatioson siguro Niya kami dahil amay na nailo.

Saraditon pa an mga tugang ko, balo na an ina ko.

Paparaoton gayod an buhay mi, uya kami solo-solo

Gadan na an ama na kuta na mapadangat man samo.

Papasakitan kaming entiro; pirming madulok sa lolo.

Dai bastante an hanap kan inang pirming nadidismayo.

Papahibion an ina kong solo-solo sa saiyang agi-agi

Siisay an mapaalo saiya na nagtatangis barabanggi?

Papasukuon man nanggad gayod an saiyang ispiritu.

Ako man gustong mag-iskusar mabuhay, pero pa’no?

Papatagason an boot ko pero sa Diyos gayod ako masarig

Ako man sana daing magiginibo kun mayo nin kabulig.

Papakusugon an maluya kong boot; kami ni Mama matabang.

Magian ta magian an mga bagay na dipisil ming masarangan.

Papatingkalagon niya ‘ko aga-aga, mahagad tabang sa Kaglalang

Sabihon sako an ama dai man nawara, kundi kinua lang.

Papangyarihon an mahuyong boot, pirming nagsasarig, nagtitiwala

Sa kusog asin kapas kan Kaglalang, kan Bathala Na Iyo An Bahala.

Manuel Cepe Manaog

[23 November 1943–01 June 1978] 

Awit ni Awel

Papatioson siguro niya kami dahil amay na nailo.
Saraditon pa an mga tugang ko, balo na an ina ko.

Paparaoton gayod an buhay mi, uya kami solo-solo
Gadan na an ama na kuta na mapadangat man samo.

Papasakitan kaming entiro; pirming madulok sa lolo.
Dai bastante an hanap kan inang pirming nadidismayo.

Papahibion an ina kong solo-solo sa saiyang agi-agi
Siisay an mapaalo saiya na nagtatangis barabanggi?

Papasukuon man nanggad gayod an saiyang ispiritu.
Ako man gustong mag-iskusar mabuhay, pero pa’no?

Papatagason an boot ko pero sa Diyos gayod ako masarig
Ako man sana daing magiginibo kun mayo nin kabulig.

Papakusugon an maluya kong boot; kami ni Mama matabang.
Magian ta magian an mga bagay na dipisil ming masarangan.

Papatingkalagon niya ‘ko aga-aga, mahagad tabang sa Kaglalang
Sabihon sako an ama dai man nawara, kundi kinua lang.

Papangyarihon an mahuyong boot, pirming nagsasarig, nagtitiwala
Sa kusog asin kapas kan Kaglalang, kan Bathala na Iyo An Bahala.



Manuel Cepe Manaog
[23 November 1943–01 June 1978]

Do Not Judge the Book. Buy Each Cover

Ining mahibog na paperback 
obra kan babaying nakablusang puti—
“our ground time here will be brief”

an titulo niya, kaya gayod an author 
mismo an yaon sa enot na pahina.

Ini man saro enot daang collection 
kan hoben na author kaya siguro 
mahipis man sana. Tubig an yaon 
sa prantera—kun basahon mo garo 
an mga obra maestra, barasa-basa 
an papel kan gabos na tawo saiya, 
lamos-lamos kaanggutan an kada rima.

May sarong tinatakan na “discarded”—
tapos sabi sa likod, magayon daa 
an naenot niyang libro, poetry selection 
kan 1972. Dai mo tulos maburubuklat 
an cover, first name kan author peter.

Igwang saro na gibo daa nin poet lauriat—

baad may mga appetizer an tula niya, 
o igwang epigraphs kada chapter ninda—
dangan haralabaon an iba, o an pira 
pinangararan niya sa amiga; mas gwapa 
kun raging an mga tsismis sa iba—
dai ka mangalas, garo mahihinggustuhan ka.

Magayon ining saro ta garo kadakul 
pangyayari sa saro sanang tema—
an ama kan kag-obra. Tibaad nagkahilang 
si ama niya, tapos narahay. Tapos nagkahilang 
giraray, tapos narahay. Tapos nagadan. 
Sa huring pahina, nagpaparataram an ama 
sa irarom kan daga—kaya gayod an cover 
niya, garo dai matapostapos na lapida.

Sa blurb man kan saro, kan ginigibo daa 
kan author an mga obra, tinabangan siya 
kan sarong anghel. Haloy man siguro sindang 
nagdurog kan saiyang musa; kan dai na 
nagkauyon sa sarong metapora, tinuwadan siya 
kan nasabi nang kapareha; kaya mayo nin ibang 
yaon sa cover niya, kundi balukag na sana.