SA TAHAW KAN GABOS

POETICS AS CULTURE AND CULTURE AS LAW

Local languages in the regions are also official languages as per the 1987 Constitution. For the purposes of instruction and communication, the official languages of the country are Filipino, and until otherwise provided by law, English. And for the same purposes, local languages shall serve as auxiliary medium (Art. 14 Sec. 6-7 of the 1987 Constitution).

Yes, auxiliary medium, but only for the purposes of instruction and communication, particularly in the academe and government subdivisions. However, as literary medium our local languages may also be construed as occupying the privileged space of being official. Likewise, literary culture is part of custom which is deemed to be not contrary to morals, law and public policy, hence countenanced by the Courts when proven as fact (Arts. 11-12 RA 386). Our country also has a prevailing policy in support of ethnicity for the framework of national unity (Art. 2 Sec. 21 of the 1987 Constitution).

Perhaps the above provisions are only in recognition of the country’s being multi-cultural and multi-lingual. Literary pursuits in the regions involving ethnicity as in the search for local aesthetics is very much lawful. In fact, when in contact with foreign states our policy shall always be for the right to self-determination (Art. 2 Sec. 7 of the 1987 Constitution). What more when we deal with fellow Filipinos under the context of nationhood?

Tomorrow, we shall be awarding prizes to some Bikolnon writers during the Bikolinismo and Premio Tomas Arejola. The more exciting part of the event is not really the awards night itself, but the opportunity of Bikol writers to gather right after the awards rites and exchange thoughts about the state of Bikol literature and its direction. And this writer is lucky enough to be part of the awards night as the book “Pagsasatubuanan: Poetikang Bikolnon” will be conferred this year’s Premio Bibiano Sabino para sa Librong Bikolnon.

The people must know that our pursuits are official in nature, and not mere auxiliary or hobby. Publishing our works and giving them prizes are just some of the ways to assert this fact. This is a happy realization for this blogger as I dig out the writer’s place under the province of our fundamental law and statutes. Literary culture is a sound custom and countenanced by law. Culture is law, as the latter is supposed to be shaped, if not influenced by the former.

Our poets are legislators too. Younger poets invoke the elder ones. Poetics is law, and if in the proper context, poems can articulate culture and native wisdom which in turn are very much suited to be a rich source of legislation and law.

PAGSASATUBUANAN: POETIKANG BIKOLNON (NCCA, 2008) NOW AVAILABLE

I have launched my first book on Bikol poetics published through a grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts-National Committee on Literary Arts (NCCA-NCLA). I think this book is important because it is the first ouvre on Bikol poetic aesthetics written in the Bikol language. So that non-Bikols could understand its gist and purpose, I saw it fit to write the foreword in English.

As they say:

“Chancoco’s book enlightens us on important aspects of Bikol poetics. It is a great contribution to Philippine literary scholarship.”
–Dr. Cirilo F. Bautista, Philippine Panorama

“We could not fault Chancoco’s craftmanship”
–Dr. Leoncio P. Deriada, Homelife Magazine

“Jose Jason L. Chancoco’s pioneering and scholarly work, Pagsasatubuanan: Poetikang Bikolnon, is a koh-i-noor in the canon of Bikol poetics and literary criticism. A rare achievement!
–Santiago Villafania, Dalityapi Unpoemed

“An “Pagsasatubuanan” ni Chancoco sarong pagtukar kan Bikolnon na poetika sa paaging strukturalista-pormalista, sa paaging ini, an libro minakapot kan tropeo bilang enot na pagrurip sa pagrarawitdawit sa Bikol.”
–Victor Dennis Nierva, Vox Bikol

“Creating his own devices to articulate terminologies in Bicol translation, Chancoco uses Bicol in its formal form, proving that studies and researches can be articulated in the native language.”
–Juan Escandor, Jr., Philippine Daily Inquirer

Copies of the book are available (PhP250 only) at Museo de Caceres (inside the Holy Rosary Minor seminary), Kulturang Bikolnon (first level of the CBD Hotel Building) and Basilica Souvenir Shop (Basilica Compound) in Naga City. Orders may also be placed by sending an E-mail to tarusan22(at)yahoo(dot)com or via SMS to 09199470406 and copies will be sent by courier.

TAGBOAN SA TABOAN

I was invited as delegate during the NCCA sponsored Taboan: Philippine International Literary Arts Festival held at UP-Diliman, Ateneo de Manila and Cubao Expo on February 11-13. Some writers from Thailand and Vietnam were also in attendance to converge with our own writers coming from all over the country. Far from being just a social event, the congress had plenary and panel sessions delving on various issues surrounding the writer’s life.

I was also on official business representing not just the Bicol region but also SM City Naga (to open early May this year). Surely, the opening of the mall will clear new grounds in Bicol’s literary and cultural landscape.

During the festival I was given the inter-related topics “Writing Off-Center” and “Lingo ng Wika”. For me, language is culture and same with language art, is also defined by geography. And the center, if it exists at all could very well be just a parameter for literary practice. For instance, an academized, workshoped, publication and award centered literary practice may just be a culture of urban origin in contrast with the oral tradition still extant in some areas in the countryside. But then we cannot say that this urban literary culture has not permeated to some extent the literary practitioners in the provinces. In Bicol, we also have the academe, and the workshop, publication and award system. It is just that Bicol-based writing ought to reflect if not approximate the Bicol life and whatever universal value that could be derived from it. I would dare say that it is much easier for Bicol-based writers to achieve a higher degree of authenticity and that with this, the concept of being “tukal sa daga” or dislocation is far-fetched. Truly, a new center has emerged and more will follow. Centers defined by culture-base, that is.

But then again, there is language. How does it define authenticity? During the conference, I asserted that the language issue is a product of historical anomaly and multilingualism should not be seen as a problem but rather as a solution—as power and advantage. The Bikol writer is typically multilingual and this is good. Anyway, literary material would tend to ensconce itself in a language that suits it—as defined to some extent by the writer’s language proficiency.

In the main, the Taboan was still a success and must be replicated. The government must finance another gathering of the same magnitude and provide airplane tickets, food and drinks, and hotel accommodations for our writers. It is one way for this government to make atonement for its misgivings. Also, since most of the writerly issues have already been discussed, the next Taboan must focus on the business of partying, drinking and sharing of talents. Writers have enough solitude to last a lifetime.

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF LANGUAGES (2008)

As per Resolution No. 52/23 (November 27, 1997) of the United Nations General Assembly, there is a prevailing policy on Multilingualism recalling the earlier Resolution No. 50/11 (November 2, 1995). It requests the Secretary General to submit during the 54^th session a comprehensive report on the implementation of Resolution No 50/11. And likewise, it also includes Multilingualism as part of the General Assembly’s agenda for the session.

The implementation of UN’s Multilingualism policy is still binding up to now. This can be observed during its Plenary Sessions and General Assemblies wherein delegates are encouraged to express themselves using their native tongue. Clearly, this policy shows that the UN sees cultural and linguistic diversity not as a threat to diplomacy and understanding, but rather as human rights that must be respected in order for nations to bridge themselves towards spiritual unity as members of the human race. This also avoids the prevalence of a dominant language or culture base which more often than not, leads to hegemony and cultural oppression which in turn leads to misunderstanding. Besides, a good number of languages die everyday in the name of linguistic uniformity. There is then a need to reverse this phenomenon.

Even if language is said to be arbitrary, the legislature is still a powerful state apparatus that could greatly influence and spell either the death or survival of the various languages. The UN seems to be on the right track in this regard just by crafting Multilingualism as a policy. In fact, UNESCO declared this year to be the International Year of Languages with the slogan: “Languages Matter!”

Although UNESCO cannot fund all of the pro-linguistic diversity projects being implemented around the globe, it encourages local initiatives. It also has a listing of some of the most important cultural and linguistic enterprises. The list includes Dalityapi Unpoemed’s Makata, a multilingual poetry site; and this blogger’s ‘Pagsasatubuanan Modernistang Poetikang Bikolnon’, a work on Bikolnon poetics written in the Bikol-Naga language.

It is a ray of hope to see Philippine based projects making it in UNESCO’s IYL list. It is a known fact that the country’s Constitution deems the other Philippine languages as mere auxiliaries to English and Tagalog/Filipino. And the prevailing policy on language in the academe is that of “Bilingualism” and not “Multilingualism”. Even with the CHED Memorandum Order No. 44 there is yet a dearth of regional literature in classroom and campus discourses. The way to go it seems is by local and individual/group initiatives from the private sector.

The Dalityapi Unpoemed has sponsored poetry readings in Manila campuses and continues to accept poetry contributions written in the various Philippine languages. While this blogger’s work on Bikolnon poetics, as it is written in a regional language, hopes to fill the scarcity of materials written in the Bikol-Naga language. Not to mention the need for more works under the genre of literary criticism to provide critical perspectives with regard Bikolnon literary aesthetics.

PAGTUKDO, PAGSURAT BIKOLNON 2008

I have been attending national writers’ workshops and really enjoy them. Trying to be a writer in a republic of non-readers can get quite alienating sometimes. These workshops (more of writers’ retreats really) help alleviate the loneliness of writerly existence.

Tomorrow, along with other writers based in Bicol (Kabulig-Bikol), I will be attending a conference for teaching and writing Bikol literature. This will surely be another avenue for Bikol writers to convene and share ideas—together with teachers of literature. It is hoped that the existing Bikol literature agenda will be updated and be given extensive attention by the government, the academe and society in general.

I will be sharing some insights about Bikol Drama and our regional dramatic tradition. I will focus more on how we could utilize the art form as pedagogy of literature. Its very nature would reveal its potent power as a servant art, one that could wrap-up all the other Bikol literary art forms into one package that could fit well within literature modules.

The conference, dubbed as Pagtukdo, Pagsurat Bikolnon 2008 is sponsored by the Kabulig-Bikol, Naga College Foundation, National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Naga City LGU.

LITERARY ARTS AND THE ACADEME

It’s graduation season, the month we march. For a writer and somebody who stayed for the longest time in the university, I can only ponder on the future of literature in the academe. For one, I observe that most of our schools have taken it upon themselves to prioritize ‘in’ courses. That is to say, the programs that attract the most number of enrollees.

If you think about it, our universities seem to cater to the demands abroad. The courses that produce professionals needed abroad get the upper hand. This can be observed even in some commencement exercises in the region. B.S. Nursing graduates get ‘special treatment’ in these events. They are the first ones to be called, and prior to the march, even their invitations and graduation programs get printed first. The others just have to wait.

Nevertheless, I still think that the academe can help this country become a republic of readers and writers. Here’s how I think it should be done:

 

• Hire more prize-winning writers in the faculty. M.A. units can sure help, but I think literary arts is contagious. If the teacher is himself/herself a writer, more students will develop love for literature.
• Reward student writers. Budding pen pushers who qualify for national writing workshop fellowships, get printed in prestigious publications, win prizes in contests ought to be lauded. Posters or tarpaulins should be displayed in campus in their honor. Their published works should also be posted in the bulletin board.
• Invite prominent authors for speaking engagements. This will make students realize that not all famous writers are dead. This will also expose them to their wit and eccentricities.
• Hold poetry performances. But then, nobody must read from song magazines thinking that it’s poetry.
• Post announcements about call for submissions for national workshops, publications and contests.
• Support campus-based writer’s groups by offering financial grants.
• Sponsor literary workshops and contests, and publish a literary journal regularly.

The academe has to spearhead the development of literary arts in the country. It has to continue being the haven of writers.

BIKOL THESIS

I just sent my thesis to a nearby photocopy shop for book binding. It will be ready for distribution soon. I think to myself, there goes the paper that made me decide to pursue studies here in the Bicol region. Why study in Manila when here you can save on boarding expenses, and at the same time work for Bikol literature. I think most of the materials for a decent work on Bikol literary criticism lurk somewhere in the region, and one only needs to look.

And so there I was, quite surprised that I defended it well (and was even given a grade of A or Excellent). Another surprise was that writing in Bikol was never an issue. You see, I hear that the institution I am in is pro-globalization (whatever that means) and will not dare accept a thesis written in the regional language. Good thing that they did accept my 248-page paper, making for history and glory (ala-Gerard Butler, haha).

I called it ‘Pagsasatubuanan: Modernistang Poetikang Bikolnon.’ It is more of a book really, than a thesis. Honestly, the thesis format bores me. A writer ought to avoid writing too much in it. But then somebody has to do it. And I did reconcile the writerly and the academic.

I think I can attribute the success of my defense to the fact that what I have written there is right in my head. I even practice it or do lectures out of it. It is a praxis on the rawitdawit as Bikol aesthetics. As I always say, creative writing is my day job while literary criticism is my hobby. I guess that is why I enjoy writing workshops. I have attended most of them except, of course the UP and Dumaguete workshops. Aside form the food and the booze, I love to observe the eccentricities of our elder writers during critiquing. We writing fellows always get a good laugh out of it. Like Doc Bien and Doc Deriada who would seem to be asleep but would suddenly ‘wake up’ and blurt out something cool or nasty.

As I said, I already made lectures out of ‘Pagsasatubuanan’ like the one I did at the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary attended by, well of course, seminarians. As part of my paper’s recommendations, I intend to have more critiquing sessions on creative writing and apply the theory. Others ought to write theses and studies in their respective local languages also.  

FEU’S TRANSITION LITERARY CONTEST

I got an SMS from Far Eastern University instructor and writer Miel Kristian Ondevilla on January 23, 2008 at 5:30:06pm informing me that I will sit as one of the judges along with himself, Kristian Abe Dalao and Alfonso Dacanay for the 2008 Transition Literary Contest. And on January 26 (Saturday), I received via LBC the entries for the poetry and one-act play categories.

For poetry, I am supposed to prepare a ranked shortlist of 10 poetry collections, although only five of which will be given prizes. I got from the mail a total of 42 entries for the poetry category. I immediately screened the manuscripts and eliminated 19 entries, leaving me with 23 entries for my first shortlist. During my second screening, I removed 12 more entries, leaving me with 11 entries for my second shortlist. To come up with my top ten, I eliminated one more entry. Then I started ranking the remaining entries.

And here’s my final and ranked shortlist:

1. et., al by humblestsauthor

2. Nursing is an Art by Poet with a Lamp

3. Rain of Ours by Drench

4. Poems by Atomos

5. Necessary Truths by Go the Distance

6. Miscelaneo 2007 by El Soñador

7. One-Night Stand by Fool

8. Mirror of Thy Soul by Atropos

9. Mendacity by Miss Nomer

10. When White Wings Became Black by Akimoto Ren

I think “et., al” deserves the First Prize because the poems in the collection have clear and intuitive images and clear-cut endings. The author also has eye for detail and contrast, and knows how to shift POVs and use run-ons effectively. The collection also presents 3^rd World reality and has a well-established milieu (Quiapo, Manila area).

This eye for detail is exhibited in the way “The Gypsy” is described for characterization and likewise in lines such as: “And then you asked yourself on what sight might embrace you upon arriving home. Perhaps/a house, columns so fragile to touch, eaten by some/pests, a withered frontyard yielding death, kitchen/sink growing moss, appearing like mini continents//and islands floating on infected waters.” (The Wanderer)

Also, observe how the author employs the magic of enumeration: “On her way she saw everything/was the same but then more significant, substantial/in her subconscious: the rough texture of the pavement, the number of lines the pedestrian lane//has, the faces of the people distinct despite mixed up in the crowd.” (The Victim)

Stark contrast also amplifies irony in the way “The Woman” is described: “Sleeve of a cloth, more so/like a rag, protruded in her dilapidated suit case, perchance/she spotted in a trash bin of an executive company.”

Effective use of run-on lines also shows that the author has great grasp of the ebb and flow of words and details—and emotions: “Some clients who have proven/her factual go back and offer a gift as a gratitude:/sometimes a charm, sometimes an adorable stuff toy,/sometimes money, which she will accept with extreme//joy.

The poet also veers away from the pitfall of didactic poetics such when presenting in a detached manner a situation or image that could justify why a mother would rather be a fake fortune teller just so she could support her ailing child: “As she opens the door, a child about nine years/of age, crippled by polio and suffering from renal/failure, smiles despite pain, a teddy bear in her grasp. (The Gypsy)

The same may be observed as to the concluding vision of the problematic persona in “The Wanderer”: “In the end of your vision an inhabited shore in grief,/from afar resembling like the hand of your only son,/trembling in the dusk, begging for a filament of light.”

The greatest virtue of “Nursing is an Art” is sincerity of voice and tone, establishing the collection’s common persona early with the first poem “Memoirs of a Nurse”. It deserves the Second Prize because poem after poem, the author displays sound stanzaic strategy. The collection also presents the insights of a nurse still very much attuned to his humanity and thus exposes us to common issues surrounding the life of a healthcare front liner. In effect, it brings us to the phenomenology of caring. This type of poetry may very well create a niche in the Philippine literary landscape to coincide with the “Nursing Syndrome” we are into now.

Sincerity in this collection is not coupled with ignorance but with knowledge: “There is pain/deeper than wounds./Immeasurable, incurable pain./Pain resistant to medications.” (Pain)

Great poetic control is exhibited by inserting great emotions into separate and short stanzas: “”Papa, if you will stop the chemo,/I will love you more.”//His words like daggers/stabbing me infinite times,/every stab a pang of death.//But what can I do?/I hugged him tight,/kissed him/and hugged him again.//Unspoken love.” (Paternal Love)

Healthcare workers are humans after-all, with personal longing and needs: “Then she called me anak,/an endearment/I longed to hear/eversince.//I was struck.//Should I present reality/that I am not her daughter?/Or should I give in/to my emotions/and pretend/even just for a moment/that she is my mother?” (Mind Games)

Third Prize should go to “Rain of Ours”. It caught my attention because of its collective design. It has rain as central image. Now the challenge is on how the poet will situate it alongside various POVs, situations and personas and not run out with fresh insights. The author was able to achieve great success most of the time, if not for some lines that would tend to be bare and declaratory. The modern poet as a philosopher should also try not to romanticize and yield to higher powers and let them operate and resolve the pivotal issue within the poem.

The author exhibited great skill on craft just with the first poem “Rain”. He/she was able to employ the first and third person POVs without much trouble—from She, he to I. Likewise, the author was effective in using rain as metaphor for human situations and temperaments. Just with the first poem, he/she was able to summarize the collection’s thesis: that we as humans, give meaning to the rain even though the rain is just as it is. That is why we have a she-persona so happy about it, and a he-persona so sick of it, and the I-persona also joining in the contemplation.

There are great lines such as the hyperbolic: “Falling, your force/creates clanging, disturbing sound against/our roof, moreso like tiny, billion death/bells struck all at once.” (Rain, 3)

There are cool images too such as this one from “Rain, 4”: “Papa once walked there, the crack/grew like a spider’s web from his point to all directions./He said it was frightening.” Or this one from “Rain, 5”: “According to the news, there was a village already soaked underwater,/cadavers floating like brown leaves.”

However, there are lines that are actually good but go too far and declare: “It is falling rain, giving everything/to the land yet getting nothing/beautiful in return, only rain/again – cycle of sadness.” Or “I gaze on the outside through the pane, wondering/how rain depicts sadness and loss/despite giving itself unselflessly,/persistently – sacrifice.”

There are also parts that would tend to overspeak and romanticize: “We thrive in your center, oh rain, let us/thrive within you, wash our minds from/sorrow, claim our bosom from pain, grudges,/revenge, fragmented love and lost dreams.”

The same yielding to a higher power is seen in this deus ex machina line from “Rain, 4”: “Yet, still, we pray. In the night/endless rain came and soaked everything.” Or from “Rain, 5”: “Still, we pray./Slowly, rain subsided like a child’s whimper, fading.”

Fourth Prize should be given to “Poems”. Same as “et., al” the poems in the collection are well ensconced in its Manila milieu. Employing the same intuitive imagism, the author also has eye for contrasting details. The poems, having high degree of orality, are very much performable. The poet also found effective use for line-space as pauses. However, some poems would tend to delve into what I call as “angas poetics” and contaminate the poet’s philosophy with ranting.

Intuitive imagism can be seen in lines such as: “Too much for this,/we uncoil our hair,/chop off/and outside/where pebbles are scanty,/we shooooouuuuut/our baptismal names,/running barefooted/along the rampaging shore.” (Amateur)

Here we could visualize the first-person plural poet-personas running wild as if in Silliman Beach, leaving their poetic footprints for posterity.

Also notice the effective stanzaic strategy in segregating contrasting images/details between the Nazarene’s foot and the devotee’s in the poem “Quiapo”: “In Your/greasy, wounded feet/with nails blood tinged/and jagged and swollen ankles,//Bless these acrylic, well-trimmed/nails of silk feet in a/polished leather sandal.” Indeed it seems that it’s so hard to follow His ways, even in Quiapo Church.

However, with the poem “Postmortem,” inasmuch as it can be better served by a stanza break starting with “the smell of incense/and formalin, telling you/it’s time to start the postmortem care before everything decays and fouls” can also be rid of it’s “angas poetics” with regard the sound and legal purpose of postmortem. Perhaps the poet could be more specific with regard the postmortem’s ‘client’ so as to justify that indeed it’s already a clinical abuse of his/her resting body.

Now even if “This Morning, Or We are Never Tired of Using the Rain as Metaphor All Over and Over Again” succeeds in effecting the tone of apathy with regard its persona, the poem “Free Verse” is again, pure sexual ranting as “An Incident in the Cemetery During a Windy Todos Los Santos” is pure “angas poetics” and existentialist hopelessness

Fifth Prize should go to “Necessary Truths” because of its cool lines, effective use of repetitions and oriental endings. However, I could sense that the poet offers not much new insight even if he/she uses poetic devices. The poetic form ‘haiku’ is also erroneously employed in the “Haiku Exercise”, being that it is not really in conformity with the haiku’s 5-7-5 syllable structure.

Repetition is effectively employed in the poem “Dancers”: “They are there,/gymfit, sculptured bodies…//They are there,/bodies moving,/” However, here, the persona/voice seems to be an outsider looking in, and therefore maybe too judgmental. This is not the case with “Avenida, 2:57 AM” from the collection “Poems”. It’s the better poem because there is involvement with regard the persona in being one with the ‘ghosts’ of the streets.

Arguably, the best poem in this collection is the “Embalmer” with cool lines such as: “You have spent/almost your whole life,/and maybe, your remaining/productive years sealing/ a covenant with the dead.”

The poem also exhibits oriental temperament when it ends with: “One night while sleeping/on your working table,/a dried leaf rested on your face/from an open window.”

“Child Poem” and “Morning Scenery in Japan” are poems devoid of fresh insights. The first poem for instance simply restates that love necessitates child-like innocence and the second poem is simply the persona’s visualization or contemplation of a Japanese scenery as depicted in a calendar.

I received 7 entries for the One-Act Play category. I would eliminate an entry early on—whenever I encounter too much grammatical lapses or get the plot figured out just with the first or second page. I am also particular with form, so if it’s not a one-act play it’s out.

Here’s my final ranked shortlist:

 

1. Violet by Zuj

2. Cosmic Lapses by Martian Hunter

3. ‘Where Is It Again?’ by Bad Robot

4. ‘Because I was Gay’ by Siegfried Ulysses

5. Maria Clara of 20^th Century by Bittersweet and Strange

6. The Decision by MondE

7. Sitting with Eloisa by Vanrout

First Prize should go to ‘Violet’ because just as it is cool to watch because of its theatrics, it is also well-grounded on Philippine realities. It also builds its thesis with convincing characters, smart dialogues and a plot with a parting shot. However, we ask, do we really have to use the male archetype in forwarding feminist ideals? Here, the powerful Don (ala-Godfather), revered and feared by many turns out to be a woman named Angel who wants to start a new world order, a feminist one, that is. Again we ask, will it not simply reverse the polarity?

Second Prize should go to ‘Cosmic Lapses.’ I read this as an existentialist play with an interesting thesis with regard the absurdity of this world—that everyman is really for himself. Here, a mentally ill protagonist is met with detachment and apathy by his female psychiatrist and her secretary/intern. This way, he gets more chances at psychological normalcy from his imaginary friend. My only argument with this play is that it is hard-up on Philippine realities and could very well be set somewhere in the US. Even the imaginary friend looks like an American.

Third Prize should go to ‘Where is It Again?’ because just like ‘Cosmic Lapses’ I read it as an existentialist play, a story within a story delving on the absurdity of life. Here, the protagonist has a peculiar need to always carry something in her left arm. She looks for a book where a story that she will need for an upcoming class is printed, but simply cannot find it. One of her friends tells her of the story’s plot—an absurd tale of mishaps, only to find out later that she has the book safe in her left arm the whole time. This play could get a bit talky and dragging so it needs to be trimmed down a bit.

Fourth Prize should go to ‘Because I Was Gay’ because it’s an unusual love story albeit with the ‘highschool reunion genre’ as backdrop and saccharine ending. And although ‘Maria Clara of 20^th Century’ ranks fifth, I don’t recommend it for a prize because it’s quite sophomoric and tends to be predictable.

Since the 1950’s, the Transition Literary Contest has been part of FEU’s literary tradition. It’s a hell of a big deal for FEU writers to win a Transition prize and get printed in the Transition journal with the late Jess Q. Cruz‘ pointillist cover design. With the Transition and the FEU Press, we can expect more great writers coming from this university.

READING BEFORE THEY GO

 

It was such a delight when a group of graduating nursing students led by Kate Amaranto invited me for a chat about the writing life. It turned out that it was for their Philippine Literature class at Naga College Foundation where their teacher, Mr. Joward Diocos required them to interview Bikol writers. Now this is something great because I refuse to believe that getting into the so-called Nursing Syndrome necessitates a cessation of cerebral synaptic sparks for anything artistic or regionalist. After-all, one can still be a nurse and still have interest in the literary arts, making sure to visit bookstores, museums and libraries after taking hold of that much-coveted UK or US Visa. And should I say that it is cool that NCF is really into the literary and dramatic arts, even caring to have their future nurses interview Bikol-based writers before they jet set to unknown lands and subject their cultural identity to various contortions and hybridities.

As they say, from womb to tomb—there is the nurse. That is why I emphasized to them the need to immerse into literature and know the core of the human soul. The written word leaves an architectural imprint to history and human existence as it struggles to co-write the universe, approximating the interplay between matter and spirit. Reading a poem for instance, is like breathing the air right from the nostrils of generations after generations of humanity—past to future. As poetry is simply recycled breathing space.

Literature as they say will make you more human as hospitals would tend to dehumanize. And considering that it is almost the gateway to and from life, this speaks of humanity’s need for rational detachment when witnessing such a personal and emotional experience like death. But then literature will make life and the tragedy of it (like the recent Glorietta bombing) bearable. Great fiction for instance, is not meant to obscure reason and scientific thinking but augment it. Getting into the bottom of a narrative will not make a nurse panic at the sight of a bleeding body but will make him or her play the part of the healthcare front liner in some grand plot that is life.

We conducted the interview at Beanbag and for my part, I shared how it is to be a young writer (who used to be a pre-med geek) in this part of the planet. As requested, I gave them copies of my works, all the while considering their background. So apart from letting them have my podcasts via USB, I showed them some of my clinical stuffs, sort of convincing them that it could be done. Yes, nurses can write too and create their niche.

So I heard their report was well-appreciated, exempting them from the final exams. Now they can focus more on their hospital rounds. Keeping my fingers crossed that they really will read literature when they are free (and no fundamentalist would see it wise to blow up another mall and fill the ER), for the meantime, I will enjoy the Parker pen that they gave me. Another one for my collection.