Hagbayon

Early Saturday
morning, I got an SMS from writer Rizaldy Manrique asking for my
permission to use one of my poems in Iriganon. I slept early Friday
night so I was up and ready to answer and allow him to use it. I think
Rizaldy in now also the poetry editor of Bikol Reporter. He maintains a
column in the same regional newspaper. He calls it Bikol Blogger.

Now let me reprint the poem here:

PASAKALYE KI KAYE I

1. Mainit na sinapna,
 Pagmawuw ika uda,
 Namit itum na raga.

2. Usipun kading buut,
 Mig-anud, migpadagus.
 Maulug man su upus,
 Diri pa matatapus.

3. Pagmata, paturug,
 Pagsapuy, parigus,
 Pagkape, pagnaug–
 Puso ko, naglinug!

4. Karusun man na kinudkud,
 Bagong tigbas man na ubud,
 Dawa tubig man sa nuyug–
 Tam-is mo, Kaye, da kaarug!

5. Pag nagrarawitdawit
 Ading rira ko lubid.
 Kunu ka mabibitik?

Yes, it’s for my Esmi. I have lots of other SMS poems for her and some are even written in Tagalog like this diona:

I used to write
stuffs like this everyday (when I still had much time in my hands). And
each time I came up with something good I would send it to her. I
actually intend to collect and later include them in my Tagalog book of
poetry. I will allot a chapter, I think.

I used to write
stuffs like this everyday (when I still had much time in my hands). And
each time I came up with something good I would send it to her. I
actually intend to collect and later include them in my Tagalog book of
poetry. I will allot a chapter, I think.

Meanwhile, I have
been working on some podcasts lately. The FNF spent a considerable
amount just to train me as a blogger and podcaster so might as well put
my knowledge (no matter how limited) into use. My first product is a
podcast of my poem in Tagalog ‘Panantili’. I plan to upload it here
soon. 

My blog’s readership seems to be getting wider. My blogstats can attest to this. Blogstats is a cool feature by Wordpress where
bloggers can check if people bother to drop by their blogs. It also
tells from which Web site they come from and/or what they are looking
for. Most of my referrers are literary sites where I am linked. Many of
my readers are students doing research on literary stuffs.

I started serious
writing back in 1999 (when I won grandprize for a one-act play in
English). It started this itch to express myself in print. At first, I
had no teachers. I simply wrote and wrote, deluding myself that I was a
real poet. But then, when I think about it, if I had teachers who would
tell me how bad my writing was, I would have stopped as early, because
all I had was my ego. I started sending my poems to magazines. Some of
them saw print and so I got more excited. I thought I was good. It was
later when I learned from national writers workshops that
many of my stuffs were crap. Real crap. But then, as they say, ‘May
pera sa basura’. Some of those bad poems even won prizes.

I am actually writing
this because I want to say that the internet helped me a lot. Since
2000, I have been publishing some of my works electronically. Truth is,
there are many readers around here, inside this electronic universe.
Many writers too. And of course, this is because there are lots of
outlets. Before we only had Web sites, now we have blogs, podcasts and videocasts.

I first became columnist for ABS-CBN’s PinoyCentral.Com
Magasin. And I remember, cartoonist Elbert Or, my co-fellow during
Ricky Lee’s scriptwriting workshop was also there. It was fun writing
for them. Aside from foreign poetry sites, I also got involved in other
local sites like Dalityapi Unpoemed,
the literary Web site of Pangasinense poet Sonny Villafania. There are
lots of Dalityapi writers, enough to form a group. It would really be
wise if the contributors would meet from time to time. Another one of
my Web sites is OragonRepublic.Com.
It is maintained by my friends Fer and Shiela Basbas. I serve as its
literary editor, and in 2005, we published a Bikol literary folio. We
also sponsored the Writer’s Night right there in Lolo’s Bar. I hope we
can still do a repeat of those projects again.

As for my blogging, it was second quarter of last year when the Friedrich Naumann Foundation granted me fellowship for their blogging and podcasting workshop. There we learned from blogging gurus like Manolo Quezon
and likewise, we are to spread the word about this phenomenon called
blogging, and how it liberates the heart and the intellect.

http://www.hagbayon.wordpress.com

My blog’s readership seems to be getting wider. My blogstats can attest to this. Blogstats is a cool feature by Wordpress where
bloggers can check if people bother to drop by their blogs. It also
tells from which Web site they come from and/or what they are looking
for. Most of my referrers are literary sites where I am linked. Many of
my readers are students doing research on literary stuffs.

I started serious
writing back in 1999 (when I won grandprize for a one-act play in
English). It started this itch to express myself in print. At first, I
had no teachers. I simply wrote and wrote, deluding myself that I was a
real poet. But then, when I think about it, if I had teachers who would
tell me how bad my writing was, I would have stopped as early, because
all I had was my ego. I started sending my poems to magazines. Some of
them saw print and so I got more excited. I thought I was good. It was
later when I learned from national writers workshops that
many of my stuffs were crap. Real crap. But then, as they say, ‘May
pera sa basura’. Some of those bad poems even won prizes.

I am actually writing
this because I want to say that the internet helped me a lot. Since
2000, I have been publishing some of my works electronically. Truth is,
there are many readers around here, inside this electronic universe.
Many writers too. And of course, this is because there are lots of
outlets. Before we only had Web sites, now we have blogs, podcasts and videocasts.

I first became columnist for ABS-CBN’s PinoyCentral.Com
Magasin. And I remember, cartoonist Elbert Or, my co-fellow during
Ricky Lee’s scriptwriting workshop was also there. It was fun writing
for them. Aside from foreign poetry sites, I also got involved in other
local sites like Dalityapi Unpoemed,
the literary Web site of Pangasinense poet Sonny Villafania. There are
lots of Dalityapi writers, enough to form a group. It would really be
wise if the contributors would meet from time to time. Another one of
my Web sites is OragonRepublic.Com.
It is maintained by my friends Fer and Shiela Basbas. I serve as its
literary editor, and in 2005, we published a Bikol literary folio. We
also sponsored the Writer’s Night right there in Lolo’s Bar. I hope we
can still do a repeat of those projects again.

As for my blogging, it was second quarter of last year when the Friedrich Naumann Foundation granted me fellowship for their blogging and podcasting workshop. There we learned from blogging gurus like Manolo Quezon
and likewise, we are to spread the word about this phenomenon called
blogging, and how it liberates the heart and the intellect.

http://www.hagbayon.wordpress.com

Yes, it’s master poet Cirilo F. Butista. He was much younger in this
picture. But then poets are made of fire, they never grow old and die.
They are immortal for they rewrite the text of the universe.

The first book penned by this author that I ever owned was a collection
of poems in Tagalog. Bought it in National Bookstore in Robinson’s Imus
(Or was it Goodwill Bookstore as part of a poetry prize?). I stayed in
Cavite because my aunt owns a place there. I was then finishing my ROTC
in FEU-Morayta. I was B.S. R.O. as they used to say.

I remember that I would only go to Manila during weekends, staying at
Jamael Jacob’s apartment in UP-Diliman. There we would have drinks (as
other batchmates would also come over) and endless talks about almost
everything. And come Sunday, I had to be the demoted Sergeant (I quit
as MP, could not stand it) that I was.

After each training session, I went to CCP, Intramuros or National
Museum. It was fun looking at artworks and being in places that had
this creative atmosphere. Then I would go back to Cavite.

There I devoured books. I had no other things that I could use to
entertain myself, no radio or TV, the house was almost bare. And so I
wrote and read, almost like a hermit isolated from the rest of the
world.

Bautista’s poetry in Tagalog was a fresh read for me. I was then
reading works by foreign  authors, mainly suicidal poets who had
groupies. I noticed that Bautista employed techniques not usually
observed among Tagalog poets. Some of his works ( as I read them, young
as I was) were almost dream-like, ethereal and yet philosophical. And I
could not understand them at first until they got into me–music, beat
and punches.

It seemed like long ago. Years after, I met him in Baguio during a
national writers workshop (where my favorite poem got shredded). I
found him to be cool and composed, like a Jedi master.

Now I heard he will be publishing an anthology of poems in English
and Tagalog by young and emerging writers. It will be pressed in UST
and will come out later this year. Well, a writer of his caliber will
never be turned down by publishers. And I’m sure both volumes will be
an exciting collection.

Now on Friday (March 9), there will be another poetry discussion
here in my place. Same people will attend (and more, I think). Lecturer
will be, of course, me (since I’m not done with the previous topic).
Then followed by critiquing, rounds of beer and poetry readings with
distorded guitar music. You want to come? Just tell us.

http://www.hagbayon.wordpress.com