Jim Pascual Agustin's Blog, page 22

“Glimpses” a finalist at Goodreads.com

My poem, “Glimpses,” which was first published in Our Own Voice, an online literary journal, has just been chosen as a finalist among hundreds of entries at Goodreads.com website’s poetry competition. After the judges select the finalists, it is then up to the members of the Poetry! discussion group to vote for the poem they like the most. The poem that gets the most votes is then featured in the coming month’s newsletter. It’s good exposure. I’d love my poem to win, but one can only wish.

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE FINALIST POEMSHERE IS THE LINK TO THE FINALIST POEMS.

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That other, as if one were

It was while reading Mahmoud Darwish’s last book, an autobiography of sorts that is more poetry than anything else, that I heard of the Arab literary tradition of writing about oneself as if you were another person.I tried doing it when my good friend from the other side of the world (Australia!) asked to interview me. I hope I didn’t fail in my attempt. Thanks, Ryan, for this, and the friendship across so much land and water, so much difference in time. One day we’ll share a cup of coffee or a bottle of beer, laugh at the world that seems intent in keeping people apart.

HERE IS THE LINK to Ryan Stone’s blog, Days of Stone.

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Claiming the title for a movie that’s still to be made

The Dumber of Two Devils. Yes, that’s mine.

My poem “Cousin’s Thumbnail” gets featured on NoiseMedium!

You take memory. Put it in a box. Shake it a bit. Open the box. Whisper into it. Close it up and shake it some more. Open the box. Take it apart. Look for the memory that seems to have disappeared. Now start writing what you remember, what should be remembered, what will always be remembered, and then make a new box out of air.

This is how “Cousin’s Thumbnail” was written. Now it has found a home at NoiseMedium. Please read the poem and leave a comment there. Or here. Thank you.

Filed under: Asia, environment, Filipino poetry, Fragments and Moments, How to Make a Salagubang Helicopter, Jim Pascual Agustin, Literary News & Articles, Mga Tula / Poetry, poetry, Uncategorized Tagged: Filipino poetry, Jim Pascual Agustin, NoiseMedium, Philippines, poetry, violence

Heritage Month Poetry Reading

We’ll be reading poems on heritage from Rhino Poetry to mark its 40 years as well as poems on one’s own personal heritage. South Africa has an amazing heritage – from its landscape to its wonderful people – worth sharing with the rest of the world. Join us this Saturday if you are in Cape Town!

Filed under: Jim Pascual Agustin, Literary News & Articles, Mga Tula / Poetry, poetry, Uncategorized Tagged: Candy Rohde, FOCAL, Friends of Central Library, Heritage Month, Heritage Month Poetry Reading, Jim Pascual Agustin, Kerry Hammerton, Rhino 40, Rhino Poetry Magazine, Sindi Busuku-Mathese

I Hate Found Poems and I Do Not Claim This One

I Hate Found Poems and I Do Not Claim This One

words by Gabriel Cardinoza, formatting by Jim Pascual Agustin

Five-year-old Danica Mae

Garcia, who was felled

last week by a bullet intended

for her grandfather, was buried

at the public cemetery here

on Wednesday. Some 150 relatives

and neighbors joined the funeral

procession. They waded in floodwater

that rose by half a meter

on a 100-meter stretch

of the road from Danica’s house

at Barangay Mayombo beside Pantal River,

which had been swollen

due to monsoon rain

and high tide in the past days.

No government official showed up

at the burial of the collateral damage

in President Duterte’s

war on illegal drugs.

-o-

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/811602/5…

Filed under: Asia, Filipino poetry, Filipino-South African, Fragments and Moments, Influences, Jim Pascual Agustin, poetry, terrorism, Uncategorized Tagged: collateral damage, Danica Mae, Danica Mae Garcia, EJK, extrajudicial killings, Gabriel Cardinoza, Justice, murders, terrorist Duterte, war on drugs

Aiza Seguerra, you will never meet Danica Mae

Thank you to Rappler for convincing Aiza Seguerra, newly-appointed by Philippine President Duterte as National Youth Commission Secretary, to read with much delight my rather old poem, “Litel Mis Pilipings.” I’m still working on the translation of the poem for a wider audience. I performed the poem myself many times way back in the early 1990s, to the disbelief and huge amusement of the various audiences who were (un?)fortunate enough be there. I’ll try and post an audio recording of my recent attempt to recreate those times. Or maybe not.

HERE IS A LINK to Aiza’s reading

Aiza has an interesting background, including ending up as a runner-up in the very contest I tackle in the poem.

(UPDATE: I posted on SOUNDCLOUD a scratchy recording of my own reading I did today.)

Aiza, if you happen to read this blog post, I hope you find the following poem I have just written, “Danica May,” worth your while.

 

Danica Mae

Hindi kailanman lalapag malapit sa iyong barangay

ang helikopter ng Presidente. Hindi siya kailanman

maglalakad patungo sa bahay ng iyong ina, o magpapagpag

ng alikabok sa sapatos bago humakbang papasok ng pintuan.

Hindi kailanman hahagurin ng kanyang tingin kung saan mo

dating itinatabi ang iyong mga laruan. Hindi magmamabagal

ang kanyang mga mata pagtanaw sa mga damit mong nakasabit o tiklop na nakahimlay, ngayon ay hiwalay sa labada ng pamilya. Hindi niya tatanungin

kung ano ang pleybor ng paborito mong ays krim,

o kung paano ka humawak ng krayola,

o kung tinatakpan mo ng palad

ang iyong bibig tuwing matatawa.

Walang halaga ang ano pa man na aking sabihin,

lalo na sa iyo. Kahit pa man tukuyin kong hindi mga bala

ang kumitil sa iyong buhay, kundi mga salita.

Mumunting piraso lamang ng bakal

ang mga bala na maaari sanang naging pintuan

ng laruan mong kotse, o mga butones

ng damit na hindi mo na maisusuot

mula sa araw na ito.

-o-

LINK TO A HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH article

 

Filed under: Asia, Filipino poetry, Filipino-South African, Jim Pascual Agustin, Mga Tula / Poetry, poetry, politics, terrorism, Uncategorized Tagged: Aiza Seguerra, children, collateral damage, crossfire, Danica Mae, Danica Mae Garcia, Duterte, EJK, extrajudicial killings, human rights, human rights violations, Jim Pascual Agustin, Litel Mis Pilipings, Philippines, poetry, Rappler

Aiza Seguerra, you will never meet Danica May

Thank you to Rappler for convincing Aiza Seguerra, newly-appointed by Philippine President Duterte as National Youth Commission Secretary, to read with much delight my rather old poem, “Litel Mis Pilipings.” I’m still working on the translation of the poem for a wider audience. I performed the poem myself many times way back in the early 1990s, to the disbelief and huge amusement of the various audiences who were (un?)fortunate enough be there. I’ll try and post an audio recording of my recent attempt to recreate those times. Or maybe not.

HERE IS A LINK to Aiza’s reading

Aiza has an interesting background, including ending up as a runner-up in the very contest I tackle in the poem.

(UPDATE: I posted on SOUNDCLOUD a scratchy recording of my own reading I did today.)

Aiza, if you happen to read this blog post, I hope you find the following poem I have just written, “Danica May,” worth your while.

 

Danica May

Hindi kailanman lalapag malapit sa iyong barangay

ang helikopter ng Presidente. Hindi siya kailanman

maglalakad patungo sa bahay ng iyong ina, o magpapagpag

ng alikabok sa sapatos bago humakbang papasok ng pintuan.

Hindi kailanman hahagurin ng kanyang tingin kung saan mo

dating itinatabi ang iyong mga laruan. Hindi magmamabagal

ang kanyang mga mata pagtanaw sa mga damit mong nakasabit o tiklop na nakahimlay, ngayon ay hiwalay sa labada ng pamilya. Hindi niya tatanungin

kung ano ang pleybor ng paborito mong ays krim,

o kung paano ka humawak ng krayola,

o kung tinatakpan mo ng palad

ang iyong bibig tuwing matatawa.

Walang halaga ang ano pa man na aking sabihin,

lalo na sa iyo. Kahit pa man tukuyin kong hindi mga bala

ang kumitil sa iyong buhay, kundi mga salita.

Mumunting piraso lamang ng bakal

ang mga bala na maaari sanang naging pintuan

ng laruan mong kotse, o mga butones

ng damit na hindi mo na maisusuot

mula sa araw na ito.

-o-

LINK TO A HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH article

 

Filed under: Asia, Filipino poetry, Filipino-South African, Jim Pascual Agustin, Mga Tula / Poetry, poetry, politics, terrorism, Uncategorized Tagged: Aiza Seguerra, children, collateral damage, crossfire, Danica May, Duterte, EJK, extrajudicial killings, human rights, human rights violations, Jim Pascual Agustin, Litel Mis Pilipings, Philippines, poetry, Rappler

Collateral damage my ass

The bloody events in the Philippines continue to make each new day something to dread. How many will be killed today? How many tomorrow?

This news item adds one more ache: 5-year-old girl latest fatality in drug war.

I link to a previous post I wrote.

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UPDATED: More Wax than Human Remains

More Wax than Human Remains

The late dictator’s image rendered

in wax, displayed in a Quiapo-quality

glass box, is what his family would love

to drag down from the North

all the way to sweltering Manila.

Only those who have lived

through the darkness might ask:

How many candles could they carve

out of his non-human remains?

Will his greatest admirer simply

mow us down with curses and bullets,

deaf as he is to any protest?

-o-

 

 

The above is the first draft. Here is the new version which I hope is a bit of an improvement, thanks to the generous members of my secret online poetry discussion group, The Boathouse:

More Wax than Human

The late dictator’s image

rendered in wax, displayed

in a Quiapo-quality glass box,

what his family and most touched

admirer would love to haul

all the way from the North

down to sweltering Manila.

Only those who have lived

through the darkness might ask:

How many candles

could they carve out

of his non-human remains?

-o-

 

Related reading.

THE NARRATIVE has always been that the body in the glass coffin in Batac, Ilocos Norte, lying there since 1993, is yet to be buried because the state refuses burial. As a result, the body lies embalmed until God knows when. There is an irreverent twist to it, sacrilegious even, that appeals to most cultural norms barring the desecration of the dead. In short, the message is: The state is cruel to disallow proper burial.

I have had two opportunities to visit the crypt of Ferdinand Marcos. The tourist gazer is usually led to an inner chamber inside the mausoleum just beside the family’s “ancestral house.” I enclose that in quotation marks because the house is anything but old; it is a new building designed to have fake, exposed “paletadas” so as to conjure antiquity; this is also part of the narrative. This first visit had an Imeldific air to it—the sound of choral cantatas filled the chamber.

The second visit some years later was unexpectedly and surprisingly revealing. A close Marcos family friend escorted us to the crypt. There in the stillness of the chamber (no choral cantata this time), looking down on the finely chiseled body of the deposed president—you could clearly see the veins on his hands, or so I thought—the family friend whispered: This body is just a wax replica, the real corpse had already been buried underneath. End of the narrative.

Filed under: Asia, Filipino poetry, Jim Pascual Agustin, Life in a different world, Mga Tula / Poetry, Uncategorized Tagged: crypt, dictator, Duterte, Jim Pascual Agustin, Marcos dictatorship, Martial Law, More wax than human remains, Quiapo, wax