The poem uncannily titled “Repetition Compulsion” has this second and final stanza:
“In the binds of tenderness, we reach./ Yet we are not who we touch./ In altered words, we speak of futures/ glimpsed in mirrors we are wedded to/ where the remnant of the child/ restores. She of the soft flesh/ given to the marvels of the wound —/ the cuts that heal many times over/ into scars nurtured beyond notice,/ skin burnished by the hands/ of voice chasing after her name/ as she runs breathless/ each instance of embrace.”
As a love poem, it has all the merits of intrinsic value: images of choice intimacy, evidence of cyclic hurt (from “wound” to “cuts that heal” to “scars”), the chase, short of breath, for an instance of fugitive endearment.
It is one of the first six poems in the first of four sections of Naming the Ruins, Dinah Roma’s third poetry collection, published by Vagabond Press / Asia Pacific Poetry, which is based in Australia.
This first section is titled “The Wayside of Love.” What follow are: “Mercies of Camouflage” (which includes “Beyond Ondoy”); “Of Mortal Grasp” (including a poem “in memory of the victims of Haiyan…”); and “The Gift Beyond” — where the poems are on Asian temples, motifs, a river, tradition.
We have to cite these demarcations and thematic taglines to stress the obvious gravitas that marks this collection as a mature, responsibly calibrated array of verses, whose concerns dwell beyond the familiar personal frippery of much of contemporary poetry.
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Dinah Roma has gone from strength to strength as a poet with a pan-Asian vision — since her earlier collections A Feast of Origins (2004) and Geographies of Light (2011), both from UST Publishing House. She deserves to be one of the few Filipino poets who has now gained publication abroad.
Since 1999, Vagabond Press has published established and emerging writers from Australia and of late, Europe and Asia Pacific. We’re happy that Dinah caught the editors’ attention with her poetry.
Her voice is distinct, even as it engages in dreams, myths, metaphorical whetstones, landscapes and the wealth of travel, or ruminates on the perils of natural calamities.
From “Mekong”: “… The lyrics chastise. The roads meander./ We’ve been warned of its riches, of rare/ species escaping the hunt. The floods/ that wash out valleys, its rapids// faster than the fall over the edge./ At what hour does each cross the waters?/ What weight do they carry? What enchants,/ what losses for days weathered?// The music softens in the slow night/ of stories timeless as the river./ By its banks are tales of drift and surge,/ of the wild swarming along its rims.// When it flows out in calm,/ its color is earth. Silver. Of moon’s/ embrace. It glistens, wandering/ far away from vision.”
Her queries illumine even without ready answers. And again, the concert of images limns the tough, tender and exquisite concerns. We look forward to her future poetry.
Kakaiba itong susunod na librong tatalakayin ko. Kakaiba kasi ang awtor: si Joselito D. delos Reyes, na siyang kaibigan ng lahat sa FB, at kaaway ng mas nakararami, kapag siya’s sisisryosohin.
Ang kanyang aklat, na naging popular kasi wasak, ay pinamagatang iStatus Nation: Mga Istatus Kong Hindi Pang Status Quo (nilimbag ng Visprint Inc.)
Binansagan siyang “bungangero.” Kasi’y pinapansin at pinupuna ang lahat, at ang mga ito’y kinikiyeme ng walang bahid man lang ng pagka-alinlangan.
Ayon sa dakilang creative director na si Vincent R. Pozon, na siya kong ini-idolo, gustong-gusto niya ang mga FB posts ni Delos Reyes… “Because they pull the rug from under me. They run down my newsfeed reminding me that the world of inefficient governance and politicians is smaller than the world of pancit habhab or his beautiful children. And because he can write in Tagalog well. And, because, even while still on the floor, I am left with a chuckle.”
Isa pang aking hinahangaan, ang icon na si Lourd de Veyra, ang syang nakumbinse ni Joselito na mag-intro sa kanyang libro. Sa pamagat pa lamang nito, bibilib na tayo: “It’s Not Complicated, Malupit Lang talaga si Jowie.”
Ani ng Word of the Lourd: “Sa ilang taon ko nang gumagamit ng Facebook, si Jowie delos Reyes lang ang nakilala kong nagsulat tungkol sa basang kilikili.
“At bakit hindi? Tanging ang pinakasensitibong kamalayan lang ang magkakaroon ng intelektuwal na enerhiya para talakayin ang matitinding problema ng panlipunan gaya ng basang kilikili, o lagyan ng pilosopikal na dimensiyon ang simpleng pagsakay sa UV Express…
“Pag nagpost ng status si Jowie, wala ka nang choice kung hindi basahin ito. Ika nga ni Nick Joaquin, walang bakyang paksa, meron lang bakyang manunulat. Kung papalarin ang kanyang mga Facebook friends, hindi lamang simpleng status ang sinusulat ni Jowie kundi mga maiikling sanaysay.”
Heto ang ilang mga sampol mula sa postings ni Joselito delos Reyes (pinili ko lamang ang mga maiikli):
“GASGAS: Pagod at sawa na ako sa mga cliché ng mga balita sa telebisyon. Pwede ba, imbes na ‘hindi mahulugang karayom sa sikip’ gawing ‘hindi mahulugang aspile.’ Iyon masikip talaga. Imbes na ‘usad-pagong’ gawing ‘usad-Philippine Justice System.’ Iyon talaga, ubod nang bagal. Imbes na ‘nawalang parang bula,’ gawing ‘nawalang parang PDAF.’ Iyon talaga naglaho.”
“SMART PHONE: Nakatali pa rin ako sa paperweight Nokia cp ko. Naranasan ko nang isauli ito ng holdaper (totoo to, last year, sa fx mula DLSU patungong UST); nagagawa kong magtext at tumawag sa gitna ng madla, sa loob ng dyipni, sa España at Dapitan; nababagok ito sa baldosa nang hindi tumitirik; napipindot kahit nagmamantika ang daliri; nakakapag-selfie kahit grainy ang 2mp na cam; tumutugtog ang mp3; nakakasagap ng sariwang hangin at alimuom ang radyo; nakapagtago ng larawan kahit papaano.
“Hindi ko pa kailangan ang smarter-than-user smart phones.”
“WEIRDO: Siguradong may weirdo sa inyong klase mula elementary, high school, at college. Sigurado. Siguradong-sigurado to. Alalahanin mo kung sino. Alalahanin mong mabuti. Hindi pwedeng wala. Kung wala kang maalala, ikaw yon.”
“FLAMES: Tuwang-tuwa ang mga kaklase ko sa laro nila nung elementary kami. Pag wala na ang titser, maglalaro sila ng F-L-A-M-E-S H-O-P-E. Sa mga ignoramus dito, isusulat sa blackboard ang pangalan mo at ng crush mo. Tapos bibilangin ang mga letrang magkatulad sa pangalan nyo. Kung ilan yun, ipa-plot sa mga letra ng F-L-A-M-E-S H-O-P-E. May ibig sabihin ang bawat letra. Sa mga igno, heto ang ibg sabihin: F-Friends; L-Love; A-Angry; M-Marriage; E-Engage; S-Sweet; H-Hinde; O-Oo; P-Pwede; E-Ewan.
“E di tuwang-tuwa sila kapag natatapat sa ‘L’ o sa ‘M’. Sigawan, hiyawan. Nung ako na, isinulat ko ang buo kong pangalan. Tapos sa ilalim, yung buong pangalan ng presidente nung panahong yun, si Tita Cory. Tumama sa ‘M’ ang plotting. Natigilan ang lahat. Na-realize ang kalokohan. Napaka-KJ ko. Ngayon ko lang aaminin, anak ko si P-Noy.”
Sabi na, kakaibang pagkawasak ang librong ito. Bilhin nyo!
