Mga Biyahe, Mga Estasyon

by Virgilio S. Almario, Marne L. Kilates (Translator)

Even while wearing his many hats as educator, activist, editor, journalist, university professor and cultural administrator, (Virgilio S. Almario in his role as critic and literary historian) has always been a poet and a traveler. The poems in this collection are culled from his last ten poetry books that individually and invariably include a poem or a group of poems on places where the poet has traveled.

Among these poems, too, might be felt most the characteristic tension between home and destination, the past and the present, and the febrile twilight in-between where the poet-traveler finds himself, whether it is in Vigan or Davao, Sta. Fe or at the foot of Mayon, or away from home shores in Sofia, Sounion or Stonehenge.

And because Rio Alma is Rio Alma, the persona in these poems of wandering, sometimes of displacement and alienation, is always Filipino. It is this Filipino-ness, which governs all his poetry and resides naturally in the original, that the translator must, with any merit at all, transpose, "trans-relate" into this sometimes cumbersome, sometimes wanting, second language of ours.

Genres: Poetry, Travel

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Virgilio S. Almario, better known by his pen name, Rio Alma, is a Filipino artist, poet, critic, translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager. He is a National Artist of the Philippines.

Growing up in Bulacan among peasants, Almario sought his education in Manila and completed his degree in A.B. Political Science at the University of the Philippines. A prolific writer, he spearheaded the second successful modernist movement in Filipino poetry together with Rogelio G. Mangahas and Lamberto E. Antonio. His earliest pieces of literary criticism were collected in Ang Makata sa Panahon ng Makina (1972), now considered the first book of literary criticism in Filipino. Later, in the years of martial law, he set aside modernism and formalism and took interest in nationalism, politics and activist movement. As critic, his critical works deal with the issue of national language.

Aside from being a critic, Almario engaged in translating and editing. He has translated the best contemporary poets of the world. He has also translated for theater production the plays of Nick Joaquin, Bertolt Brecht, Euripedes and Maxim Gorki. Other important translations include the famous works of the Philippines' national hero, José Rizal, namely Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. It was deemed as the best translation by the Manila Critics Circle.

Almario has been a recipient of numerous awards such as several Palanca Awards, two grand prizes from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Makata ng Taon of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, the TOYM for literature, and the Southeast Asia Write Award of Bangkok.
He was an instructor at the Ateneo de Manila University from 1969-1972. He only took his M.A. in Filipino in 1974 in the University of the Philippines. In 2003, he was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Letters in the said university. In June 25 of the same year, he was proclaimed National Artist for Literature.

Almario is also the founder and workshop director of the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo (LIRA), an organization of poets who write in Filipino. Award-winning writers and poets such as Roberto and Rebecca Añonuevo, Romulo Baquiran Jr., Michael Coroza, Jerry Gracio, and Vim Nadera are but some of the products of the LIRA workshop.

Reviews

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 5th Virgilio "Rio Alma" Almario poetry book and he is still to disappoint.

All of earlier four have their own themes and so this one too. As the title suggests this is about the different trips, both local and abroad, that Almario had. Reading this makes me envious that our national artist can afford those. Who's saying that there is no money in writing? But of course, Rio Alma has published so many books that my friend Jzhunagev said that it is impossible to be an Almario completist. I would think so.

Not that those books do not exist. Maybe they do in school libraries or in Almario's private collections. However, most of them are no longer in the bookstores. In the Philippines, books that don't sell are pulled out from the shelves after a few months. And since most Filipino readers do not read poetry, more often than not, poetry books are the first to be pulled out.

Reading the first few Tagalog poems in this collection is disengaging. Almario's thoughts expressed on those poems in vernacular are difficult to follow. I spent my childhood days in Quezon, where people speak deep Tagalog and still I could not understand many of the words that Almario used in those poems.

However, halfway in the book, the poems became more relatable particularly with Pamamasyal sa Baguio (Baguio Promenade) because not only that place is familiar to me (having stayed there for 4-5 years for my college education) but also Almario spent more time using words to describe the locales. In most poems that I came to enjoy in the past, one of the reasons was that they created images in my mind while reading. The earlier poems in this collection sadly did not have that impact to me.

Overall, not my favorite Almario poetry book but still, this one is not hard to like. Almario's verses are still one of the best in the Philippine poetry arena.

Thank you, Ayban for recommending this book to me many years ago.

[Rise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second poetry collection I've read of Rio Alma, perhaps the foremost Filipino poet in Tagalog language. Like the other one (Dust Devils), this collection is a bilingual edition and selected from the poet's previous books. The unifying subject is the poet's travels and peregrinations through the landscape of art, memory, and history. The poems are highly aware of injustices brought about by class distinctions and the human capacity for barbarity. I particularly liked the long poems like "First Ascent at the Great Wall" and "Spoliarium". Here's an excerpt from the first poem.

VI

If these ramparts could speak:
They will point to the corpses of slaves,
Rice rations and whips, and the harsh
Memory of drought in the fields.
If stone and moss could speak:
They will reveal the soldier's loneliness
While being blinded by dust storms
While waiting for the barbarians.
Long ago, these walls have asked the breeze
Why there are towering walls like these,
Why the candle gutters in the cold,
And why books were ordered burned.

[BookNoy (Pinoy Reads Pinoy Books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mga Biyahe, Mga Estasyon, Journeys, Junctions ni Rio Alma translation ni Marne L. Kilates

Isa sa pinakapaborito ko ang maglakbay o paglalakbay. Paulit-ulit kong pinupuntahan ang mga lugar, mga biyahe, estasyon, magagandang tanawin tulad ng Luneta, Baguio, Talim Island, Palawan, atbp. na naging bahagi na ng buhay ko, ang aking nakaraan o hinaharap pang pupuntahan na lugar o paglalakbay.

Nagustuhan ko sa aklat na ito ang mga tula, mga paglalarawan, tagpo ng pagkakataon, mga bagong lugar at mgta karanasan ng awtor. Sa aking paglalakbay pagkatapos ko itong mabasa ay sinibukan kong magsulat ng tula at journal o diary- totoong naging mabisa at nakaka-antig sa puso ang maalala mo, makita, at mabasa ang mga kuwento sa iyong paglalakbay.

Sa makabagong panahon ngayon ng teknolohiya malaki ang naitutulong ng pagkuha ng mga litrato sa pamamagitan ng celfon 0 selpi na mas lalong naging kaaya-aya, mal;aking tulong sa iyong pagbiyahe sa mga estasyon .

Dahil dito nakagawa na rin ako ng maraming tula, subukan din ninyo at baka kayo na ang susunod na instant makata.

Every star is home”. Every language, I dare say in poetry is native. My own experience “rewriting” all this wandering in our second language was the most instructive and exhilarating one, I hope the reader experiences as well.”-Marne L. Kilates/ Mga Biyahe at estasyon,Journeys,Junctions

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sa ilang libro ni Rio Alma na nabasa ko na, ito ang pinakanaunawaan ko sapagkat hindi ganoon katalinghaga ang gamit niyang Filipino--bukod pa sa may salin itong Ingles.

Sadyang mahusay ang Pambasang Alagad ng Sining sa paggamit ng mga salitang naglalarawan sa isang bagay, pangyayari, pakiramdam, o anuman. Paminsa'y mahirap nga lang maunawaan o makibagay sa akda kung ang ilang salitang gamit niya ay malalim na Tagalog.

80% ng mga tula ay binasa ko habang ako mismo'y bumibiyahe--sa bus at MRT. Saglit kong naisabuhay kong anong danas ng talampakan sa paglalakbay.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspired to write whenever I travel.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iniregalo ito ng kaibigan ko sa akin noong kaarawan ko, bilang alam nyang mahilig akong magbasa at magsulat ng mga tula. Ito ang unang libro na nabasa kong gawa ni Rio Alma. Hindi ko talaga ugaling magbasa ng mga poetry book na katulad ng pagbabasa ko ng mga nobela, gusto ko katabi ko lang lagi yung poetry book tapos bubuklat ako ng isang pahina (random) sa isang araw at mag-babasa ng isang tula, para mas maappreciate ko iyong tula.

Ang ganda nito. Parang nainggit ako kay Rio Alma kasi ang dami nya nang napuntahang lugar at gumagawa sya ng tula doon, samantalang ini-imagine ko lang halos lahat ng sinusulat ko. Gusto ko rin yung perpektong pagkakasalin sa Ingles ng bawat tula, kasi kahit naisalin na, yung emosyon at boses ng bawat tula, Pinoy na Pinoy pa din.

Siguro pag madami na din akong datung, mag-aala-Dora ako tapos magsusulat ako ng maraming maraming tula.