Jim Pascual Agustin's Blog, page 25
December 11, 2015
Yes / No / Maybe
The other night I got another rejection slip for my trilogy of poems based on Kieslowski’s THREE COLOURS (BLUE, WHITE, RED) which I’ve been struggling to find a home for the past three years. The editor who rejected them said the poem on “White” which has the title “Breathing Hole” came close. Should I feel slightly less bad about it? It’s just one more rejection slip, ready to be deleted. Sigh…
At least this set of poems got published in Four Quarters Magazine volume 4, number 2 (they could do better with presenting the poems, though.). The poems are “Francolin Feathers in Her Jaws,” “With Hazards On,” and the more recent “Ghost Train.”
It would be great to hear what readers have to say. Thanks.
Filed under: Filipino poetry, Filipino-South African, poetry, Uncategorized Tagged: Four Querters Magazine, Jim Pascual Agustin, Krzysztof Kieslowski
December 10, 2015
Sinking the ship you’re in so you can build a new one
That seems to be the only logic behind Zuma’s axing of Nhlanhla Nene as Finance Minister. From the broken pieces of this ship he’s surely sinking, Zuma promises to build a new South Africa – perhaps with China cheering him on.
The announcement came just as the so-called 16 Days of Activism Against Women and Children was coming to a dismal closure (from 25 November to 10 December, Human Rights Day). Zuma tells us to take his word for it, to trust him though he fails to explain why someone who has stood to fight corruption by taking on the untouchable Dudu Myeni is being shown the back door with the lights turned off down a dark alley. Maybe Nene is just one more obstacle removed so the Russian nuclear deal can push through. Will there be anyone bold enough to take on the shady dealings with petroleum corporations (led by Shell) and the proposed (already approved under the table?) fracking of the Karoo?
Zuma, even before he stepped into those big shoes Mandela left (and Mbeki who was ordered to go barefoot), set the local newspapers (and got international coverage, too!) on fire for months with the story of an alleged rape of a friend’s daughter. One has to remember he took a shower. Then there was the Schabir Shaik trial which magically left Zuma unscathed and apparently even revitalized, no, emboldened. The blood from Marikana miners didn’t seem to taint him either. The famed firepool of Nkandla must have some magical powers (interesting links here).
Is it just us who are mad to imagine there is even a sinking ship? All along we’ve witnessed things that were too hard to believe. Yet they keep happening.
My very good friend who showed me around Durban back in November, a day after the 2015 Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award, said Zuma is considered by his countless supporters to be a prophet. Perhaps there is no crisis. Only non-believers.
Filed under: Africa, Capitalism's greed, Uncategorized Tagged: 16 Days of Activism, Dudu Myeni, firepool, fracking, human rights, Karoo, Marikana massacre, Nelson Mandela, Nhlanhla Nene, Nkandla, rape, Schabir Shaik, South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, Violence against Women and Children, zuma
November 25, 2015
Protected: Consuelo Garcia, Please Stop Inviting My Mother
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Filed under: Uncategorized
November 11, 2015
Commemorating the 2015 Day of the Imprisoned Writer
I have been invited by PEN SA to read on 16 November 2015 at Kalk Bay Books to commemorate the Day of the Imprisoned Writer. Here is a LINK to the PEN SA website regarding the event. I’m thinking of reading some poems from ALIEN TO ANY SKIN and perhaps a new work, if things fall into place.
If you are anywhere in Cape Town on that day, please do join us.
Filed under: Alien to Any Skin, Asia, environment, Filipino poetry, Filipino-South African, Imperialism, Influences, Jim Pascual Agustin, Latin America, Middle East, poetry, Uncategorized
November 9, 2015
SA President declares ANC more important than the country
More Important than the Country
Is it possible to sleep
in a house on fire?
A shower alone
will not douse the flames.
Locking the doors to keep
everyone else out
may not be the most clever
thing to do. Mr. President,
the swimming pool
will not save those shiny
thoughts you hold
so dearly in your head.
-o-
LINK to Daily Maverick article.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: ANC, contry, Jim Pascual Agustin, South Africa, zuma
November 5, 2015
JK Rowling, please read this. One day if not today.
I have never been to Israel or Palestine. One day I would like to meet people who live side by side there. Look into their eyes. See where they live. How they live. Greet their children. Touch the walls of their homes. Walk the path they take to get to work or school. Share a meal with them. Maybe share a poem or two. They can tell me how I got the details wrong, laugh with them at my mistakes. One day.
I began this blog when I had nowhere to express what I felt upon seeing photographs of what was happening in Gaza. That was many years ago. Many things have changed with my little blog, with my own life and the rest of the world. But Gaza remains in darkness.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Israel, Israeli apartheid, JK Rowling, Palestine, Palestinian struggle
November 2, 2015
Ginahasa Ka Namin, Magpakamatay Ka na Lang – first draft
Many years ago I wrote a poem in Filipino in reaction to the rape and subsequent suicide of a movie actress. She was called a “starlet” – the label that sticks forever if one never gets out of b-movie, soft-porn productions – and one of the so-called “softdrink beauties” as promoted by an imaginative talent scout. Three daily TV show hosts were the rapists. It’s a surreal poem which may not work well in translation. I am posting that poem later here. Today I’d like to share a first draft of a new poem that is slightly more bitter (and perhaps less subtle – if that is even possible). Apologies for the missing translation. I’ll have to see to that when I have more time. This poem came to mind as I read about the new antics of the same lot of “comedians” who remain popular and influential in my country of birth.
UPDATE: as this is a first draft, please feel free to tell me what you think of this new work. well I’m always open to critique, so treat the old poem and its translation the same way. maraming salamat.
UPDATE 2 (thanks to Ed Maranan) HERE is a link to a news article on the rape and death of Pepsi Paloma. Yes, some people remain in power despite everything they do.
Ginahasa Ka Namin, Magpakamatay Ka na Lang
dahil sikat kami at sanay
magpatawa. Softdrinks ka lang,
hindi pa seksi ang iyong bote,
GI goodbye Joe ang tatay
samantalang kami may daily TV show
na patok, habambuhay habang
dinudumog ng masang tila
bangaw. Ikaw, ililibing na balot
ng tabloid. Starlet
na hindi man lang kumisap.
Sino ang mumultuhin mo balang araw?
Hindi kami. Hindi kami.
-o-
Kuwentong Kalbo
para kay Pepsi Paloma
May anghel na nagbigti
sa puno ng kamatsile.
Kaya nagturok ng tinidor
at nagsalang ng kutsara
ang mga palaka
bago bumaha ng kidlat
sa dibdib ng langit
sa mga sandaling hindi pa sila nakapagliligpit
ng patay na butete
at lobong napunit.
Naglampungan ang mga dahon
bago lubusang huminahon
ang araw.
Kung mayroon lang tikbalang
sa kalapit na balete
nagkaroon sana ng munting salu-salo
at nagpamisa pa sana
ang mga mukhang taeng-kabayo.
Subalit mababang uri
ang anghel na ito
na nagbigti,
kahit pa man
siya’y nakaputi.
-o-
draft translation
Bald Story
for Pepsi Paloma
An angel hung herself
on a kamatsile tree.
Frogs heated spoons
and used forks as needles
expecting lightning to come
flooding over the sky’s bosom.
They had not yet cleared up
dead tadpoles
and torn balloons.
Leaves grew ecstatic
until the sun
became less aroused.
Had there been a tikbalang
on the nearby balete tree
there would’ve been a quick feast
and those with horse dung faces
would’ve called for a mass.
But this was only
a lowly angel
who hung herself,
despite her white
dress.
-o-
NOTE: Pepsi Paloma was one of a number of starlets discovered by a talent scout who gave them screen names after particular softdrink brands. Pepsi was raped by three comedians who hosted a popular noontime TV show: Joey de Leon, Richie “the Horsey,” and Vic Sotto (brother of another comedian, Tito Sotto, who would one day be a Senator). After being convicted for the crime, the three asked Pepsi for forgiveness. Soon after she pardoned them, she committed suicide by hanging.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Beneath an Angry Star, Eat Bulaga, ghosts, Jim Pascual Agustin, Joey de Leon, media, Pepsi Paloma, rape, Richie the Horsey, Softdrink beauties, Tito Sotto
November 1, 2015
People Who Live with Lions may roar once again
I wrote a poem a few years ago and it took a while for it to get published. But then soon after fist publication in New Coin it was picked up by SA-born Denis Hirson and was luckily included in the original French edition of contemporary South African poetry which he edited and published in France. A subsequent English edition was released last year by Deep South Books which was co-edited by Robert Berold who is a great supporter of new voices in the country. This month, “People Who Live with Lions” has a chance of being read by an even bigger audience at the Goodreads.com Poetry! newsletter competition. if you are interested, here is the link to the contest:
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Deep South Books, Denis Hirson, Goodreads.com, Jim Pascual Agustin, New Coin, People Who Live with Lions, Robert Berold
October 15, 2015
October 14, 2015
My shortlisted poem for the 2015 Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award
The three poems shorlisted for the 2015 Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award are now up at BooksLIVE. My poem, though, does not appear as it should be. So I am posting it here as a PDF for interested readers. I first read the poem a few months ago in front of a small but warm audience in Observatory, Cape Town when I was invited at OFF THE WALL by Hugh Hodge.
Click the following link to read my poem as it should look:
Baleka, What do You Know of Tenders and Thieves, Or Cockroaches for that Matter?
Filed under: Filipino poetry, Filipino-South African, Jim Pascual Agustin, poetry Tagged: Athol Williams, Baleka, cockroaches, corruption, European Union, Jacana Media, Jim Pascual Agustin, Mongane Wally Serote, politics, Rwanda, Sindiswa Busuku-Mathese, Sky for Silent Wings, Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award, South Africa, xenophobia
