Jim Pascual Agustin's Blog, page 41

Kapayapaan

I miss speaking my mother tongue. Kapayapaan means peace in Filipino. The root word is payapa – which oddly also means peace, just that adding the prefix “ka” and the suffix “an” to any root word in Filipino transforms the word to something bigger, or more encompassing. So imagine peace spreading out to the horizons, well into the future as well as the past, embracing all and not just one who hopes to see it. Kapayapaan. For the new year (though it may only be a change of numbers at the stroke of midnight wherever one stands), I wish every being KAPAYAPAAN.

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What Greets Me on Facebook

For the past few days I’ve been getting this. Any guesses why?

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If you could

Would you join this dedicated group so you can see what mainstream media blanks out?

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Imperialism, International Solidarity Movement, Israel

4,600 is not just a number

This article from the Middle East Monitor regarding the number of people from Palestine who are in Israeli prisons should bother anyone who cares about “human rights” – that phrase so easily thrown around.

Please READ HERE.

The term “Administrative Detention” is something worth questioning, among other things.

There are a number of prisoners under “administrative detention” who have gone on a prolonged hunger strike. One of them was brought to court the other day, was kicked around by the guards, humiliated. A day or so later he was charged for hurting the guards and slapped with more offenses.

Filed under: Imperialism, Influences, Middle East Tagged: human rights, hunger strike, Israel, Occupied Territory, Palestine, solidarity

Wondering Out Loud… and Dante, You May Never Read This

I don’t have a gadget that is mainly for reading ebooks. I use my laptop for most reading I do that isn’t off a printed page. I’ve been toying with the idea of re-releasing my first book on digital format, but my feet feel like they’re in a bucket of ice.

I’m still working on revising and translating the poems that originally came out in Beneath an Angry Star,plodding a little because of other stuff I need to work on. But it would be good to hear what friends or random readers might think. I know ebooks are nothing new anymore, but to me, when I read one, it feels less of a book somehow.

At the same time I can see the appeal in terms of ease, portability, and saving on paper. Are my words worth the lives of trees?

If you’ve ever read the first and only edition of this particular book, would you even bother to get hold of a revised, bilingual edition? Petty questions while other people struggle with matters far more troubling, like starting life after a super typhoon wiped out most of your family members.

Such is the immense tragedy of Dante Balura. New Bataan, Compostela Valley is close to newly discovered gold reserves. Some say it is the reckless mining that had caused unimaginable destruction from mudslides when super typhoon Pablo struck Mindanao.

Many years ago I wrote a poem after a flash flood claimed the lives of thousands of people in Ormoc, Leyte. That was in 1991 and I vaguely remember that intense logging on the mountains or hills in the area was blamed for the destructive waters that came rushing down to the town, dragging people to the sea.

Does writing about that terrible incident make any difference anywhere, to anyone? Dante, you may never read this.

-o-

Sa mga Bagay na Tulad Nito

Leyte, 1991

Yakap-yakap ang dagat

na ayaw namang magpayakap,

ganoon ang kanilang pagpanaw.

Maaaring iniinom na natin

ang kanilang mga luha,

pinampapaligo, pinanghuhugas

ng malamig na puwit ng bata.

Sa mga isdang ipinipirito kaya

maririnig ang kanilang mga palahaw?

Hindi ko na nais pang isipin

ang iba pang posibilidad.

Malupit ang aking imahinasyon

maging sa mga bagay na tulad nito.

-o-

LITERAL TRANSLATION

On Matters Like This

Leyte, 1991

Embracing the sea

that will not be embraced,

that is how they departed.

It is possible that we are now

drinking their tears, washing

with it our bodies and the cold

bottoms of our children.

Is that them wailing

as the fish sizzles in the pan?

I no longer wish to think

of other possibilities.

My imagination is too cruel

even on matters like this.

-o-

UPDATE… According to a 1992 article from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism it was the clearing of land for sugar cane plantations that may have caused the flooding in Ormoc in November 1991.

How long before we find out who/what is to blame in New Bataan, Compostela Valley – and perhaps keep this tragedy from happening again?

Filed under: Asia, Creatures, environment, Fragments and Moments, Influences, Literary News & Articles, Mga Tula / Poetry, poetry, Uncategorized Tagged: Beneath an Angry Star, Dante Balura, floods, Jim Pascual Agustin, Leyte, Ormoc, Pablo, Philippines, Rappler.com, super typhoon

Shortlisted… there’s a sweeter term to “Did not Win” :)

Isagani Cruz, in his article in the Philippine Star writes:

REMINDER for non-winners of the National Book Award: If you go to a bookstore and look at the covers of foreign books, you will see labels such as “Finalist, Booker Prize” or “Short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize.” Foreign authors and publishers are proud to be finalists of a major book award. Needless to say, winners are even more proud, but there is nothing to be ashamed of about being a finalist and not a winner. After all, even movies are advertised as “Nominated for an Academy Award.”

I should show this article to my publisher. Give them hope that maybe the next book will get it. haha.

 

Filed under: Fragments and Moments, Literary News & Articles, Silly Babble Tagged: Isagani Cruz, Jim Pascual Agustin, UST Publishing House

A poem and a wish

Today, two personal items.

I was gladly surprised to see that a poem of mine, “My Brother Lives on the Other Side,” got selected as a finalist at the monthly Goodreads.com poetry contest. If it gets the most votes from readers, it will appear in the newsletter which apparently reaches millions. To be read is perhaps one of the greatest joys of a writer.

I can say I am promoting my own work. I can also say I am trying to reach out to others, perhaps show a perspective that others have not seen before, start a conversation.

One reader asked me what my poem means. I can only say what my poem hopes to mean.

This blog doesn’t have a lot of followers, admittedly. But should you read this – whether it leads you to vote for my poem now, or just happen to read the poem long after 1 December 2012 – I would love to hear from you. Tell me if the poem reached out to you or not. Start a conversation. (I used to just do that practically anywhere with anyone when I am on the road. I miss that. )

 

HERE is the link to the Goodreads.com Poetry Contest.

 

Second item.

It is painful to know that things change no matter where you are. People you love succumb slowly to the ravages of aging. Eyes clouding over. Hearing fades. Sometimes the misfiring of brain cells make you see something that isn’t there, like a group of children who are not yours, not your children’s either, just children you don’t know. You tell them to go away. But they won’t. And those around you feel uneasy. There is nothing there but an empty living room, not a sound from a single child, not a shadow.

My mother, I wish I could hold you in my arms.

-o-

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Four Poems on Middle East Monitor

On 6 August 2012 I sent a set of four poems to the online edition of the Middle East Monitor. I waited for a reply, then just forgot about it. Then recently, with Israeli forces bombarding the population of Gaza which has been under siege for many years, I remembered these poems. I checked the Middle East Monitor website and found all of them had been posted.

HERE IS THE LINK  -  I hope it works. The poems are in Alien to Any Skin, and early versions also appeared on Matangmanok.

Filed under: Fragments and Moments, Imperialism, Influences, Life in a different world, Literary News & Articles, Mga Tula / Poetry, Middle East, North America, poetry, politics, terrorism Tagged: Alien to Any Skin, human rights, human rights violations, Humanitarian aid for Gaza, Israel, Jim Pascual Agustin, Palestine, UST Publishing House

My Brother Lives on the Other Side

My Brother Lives on the Other Side

“An anguished relative carried the body of Suhaib Hijazi, a 2 year old… I stood in the crowd watching, clearly a foreigner and pretty obviously an American, yet no one stopped to say to me, Why? Why… are your people supporting this atrocity? No one raised a fist in my face, or pointed an accusing finger in my direction…”
– Steve Sosebee (Palestine Children’s Relief Fund),
an American in Gaza, 21 November 2012

It takes time to wrap a child,
the nurse tells me, not knowing
how many times I may have practiced
with something that didn’t squirm
and made so much noise.

She stands waiting with me,
lengths of bleached fabric
in her wrinkled hands.
The doctor nods, I come
closer. He holds before my eyes

the first of my twin daughters
to come out of the calm
darkness of their mother’s flesh.
He counts each finger and each toe,
making sure I see them intact,

not severed by accident
as he cut into my wife’s skin.
I only see gray, white,
and red, including this child
who must be made to cry.

Her sister follows, barely
larger than my hand. It is pure
luck that they are born
here, protected by these
sterile walls. Safe.

-o-

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: children of Gaza, Gaza, human rights violations, Israel, Israeli terrorists, Palestine, solidarity, US military funding

Congratulations, Teo Antonio!

Congratulations to poet Teo T. Antonio whose book, Distrungka, won at the 31st National Book Award for Filipino Poetry. My own book, Baha-bahagdang Karupukan, and the first book of good friend Emmanuel Q. Velasco (Dalawang Pulgada at Tubig), were among the finalists. The Universty of Santo Tomas Publishing House, publisher of all our books must be very pleased indeed.

THIS LINK has the full list of winners (hope the link works!).

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