Dagiti Litania ti Namnama ken Pannakapaaymi (as published in the Ilokano weekly magazine, Bannawag)

(Idi Panawen ni Gloria Arroyo)

nakitami kadi
iti baet dagiti kumunolkunol
ni jose rizal
ni andres bonifacio
ni emilio aguinaldo?

nakitami kadi
ni jose abad santos
ni josefa llanes-escoda
ni ramon magsaysay
kadagiti maris ken wagayway
ti gura idiay ayala?
kas kadagiti dudon
a simmiplag iti talon
inaradsada dagiti sabong ken mula
idinto a linugoban
ti umuna a babai ti edsa
ti ina a dimmawat iti pammakawan
iti pagilianna.

iti dayta nga aldaw
nagtutunos dagiti agsisimparat a timek
ken nadumaduma a panggep
ket nagkarayam ti lua ti birhen
iti sabali a kalsada
sika, pedro becbec, nakitadaka
idiay hyatt iti ummong da cesar,
emilia, drilon, amin a simmina.
nagkulaidag kadi met ken nagkatawa
dagiti nagabungot a patneng
iti tanemda?
ket sika, dinky,
pudno kadi a nagsangitka
idi karawaen ti bassit a babai
ti daradara a bukotna?

ania ngamin ti kinapudno?
ti kinapudno iti imtang dagiti politiko?
ti kinapudno iti amiris dagiti tattao?
wenno ti pudno a kinapudno?
kasapulan kadi a salakniban
kadagiti bassawan-retorika ti politika
a manglenglengnges iti ina a daga?

iti am-amangawmi, idupagmi dagiti litania
ti namnama ken pnnakapaaymi:

o appo ti jueteng, itdenyo kadakam'
ti inaldaw a taraonmi
tapno agtalinaedkam' latta
a bagtiti a bakes kadagiti sanga.
o appo ti nadumaduma a trono
iparangkapyo kad' dagiti maregmeg
dagiti akakan nga asoyo
tapno adda kenen dagiti annakmi
ta dida ket agrukrukit iti basura
iti pamedpedda iti bisinda.

o imee, o loren, o susan
didakam' kad' liplipatan
inton dumengkayo iti pagarian
iti abay ti nadangro a karayan.

ngem agriingkami ket idawatmi:

o appo dagiti negosio
o appo dagiti nagabito
o appo dagiti appo
bay-an ti pamuon iti tengnga
bay-an nga agrupsa
dagiti um-umkis
iti sallukob ti dawel
ken pammutbutengda!

ket dagiti lingka? ay, dagiti lingka!
awanen dagiti muriski ken aradoda
rugrugiandan ti agsangal
kadagiti nalabaga a bandera
anansata, napuskol man unay
daytoy manto ti panaguray
uray ti apo lakay ririingenda iti lamiis
ti sipina idiay batac
tapno iddepenna koma dagiti apuy
nga ipurpurruakda.

iti dagaang ti angin
silmutanen ti mitsa iti nakaimontaranna?
wenno sapulen pay ti tulbek
kadagiti sabong ken mula ken saringit
kadagiti naglumen nga edsa?

Quotations

"Today we took a little snake. I had to apologize to her for cutting her life off so suddenly and so definitely. I did what I did not knowing that my own life will also be cut off someday in very much the same fashion, suddenly and definitely.--Jack Forbes.

"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."--Milan Kundera

"The most striking difference between ancient and modern sophists is that the ancients were satisfied with a passing victory of argument at the expense of truth, whereas the moderns want a more lasting victory at the expense of reality."--Hannah Arendt

Quotations

"The only difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to be credible."--Mark Twain

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It's the courage to continue that counts."--Winston Churchill

"There are two ways to conquer and slave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt."--John Adams

"Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in failure and misfortune at their own private place, like a clock during a thunderstorm."-Robert Louis Stevenson.

 

September 26, 2018

Professor Junley Lorenzana Lazaga of the University of the Philippines Baguio has emailed the blogger that the NCCA (National Commission on Culture and Arts) has approved the funding of a book on Ilokano poetry, translated into Filipino (Tagalog), by various Ilokano authors, which would be published this year.

Included in the collection are two of my poems that are in my book of Ilokano-English poems, "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet, Come Again Stranger," launched in May 2016 in Pangil, Currimao, Ilocos Norte during the annual Nakem Conference. 

Originally published in the Ilokano weekly magazine, Bannawag, these are: 
                          (a)  Ti Mata Ti Lubong
                    Ti mata ti lubong a mangmatmat kenka 
                     Isu met laeng ti mata nga adda kenka
                     A mangimatang iti lubong ken ti dayawna
                     Ti dara ti daga a mangted iti biagna
                     Isu met laeng ti dara a mamagpitik iti tengnga
                     Ti agsayasay kenka isu met laeng
                     Ti agsayasay iti daga--wen, ti agparukpok
                     Saan a maawanan iti parukpok.
                     Ti init a balangat ti lubong isu met laeng
                     Ti balangat a naisaad iti bassit nga ulom
                     Saan a sarsarita daytoy a nakem.

                      Ngamin, kas iti daydi a panawen
                      Ti Uleg ken Mansanas
                      Idi nabukel dagiti krokis ken pagrukodan
                      Nailansatayo iti padeppa iti ikub ti basikaw
                      A saanto nga agpukaw.
                      Kas idi naipasngay ti maladaga
                      Dagidi dagensen ken am-amangaw
                      Kasta met ti rugi ti awan patinggana
                      Kas met iti agnanayon nga awan
                      Kanibusanan iti sangariwriw nga arrabis
                      Iti adu nga amen ken sakit ti nakem.
                      Ken, wen, kabsatko, awan ti mailemmeng
                     Ta kas iti taaw a mangliwengliweng
                      Nakalawlawag ken agtattayyek ti apuy,
                     Ti mulagat ti kangatuan.

                              (b) Anastacia, Kasaom ti Bulan
                  
                     Bessag ti basikaw a bulan
                     Aggargaraw dagiti anniniwan
                     Iti naulila a kapanagan.

                     Makaipas dagiti lagip:
                     Dagiti nalamiis a turod
                      Idiay Samoki ken Sagada
                      Ti karayan iti uneg ti daga
                       Idiay Palawan, dagiti orkidia
                       Idiay Davao, dagiti agila
                       Idiay Sierra, ti batonlagip
                       Idiay Batac: daytoy ti bannawag.

                       Anastacia, agsaoka
                       Kasaom ti bulan
                       Kasaom ti lunod ti bulan
                       Kasaom ti samiweng
                       Kasaom ti saem ti samiweng.

                       Anastacia, agsaoka
                       Diak maitured a maimatangan
                       Dagiti agarimayang a lua.

                       Wen, dagiti sagibo, dagiti sagibo!
                        Pimmanawda iti sidongta
                        Nagpakadada met, Anastacia.

                        Ay, nakalawlawa ti salas
                        A nagay-ayamanda idi, ay!
                        Naliday dagiti lukat a tawa
                        Agsasaiibek ti agdan
                        Agsangsangit ti dap-ayan
                        Mangngegko dagiti timek
                             Ken katkatawada
                         Ngem nairteng ti manto
                              Ti ulimek dagiti kuarto
                               A nagtarayantarayanda.

                         (Agsayukmo met nga agsubli
                          Dagiti balikasko.)

                        Sapulenta kadi ida
                        Ket inta kadagiti adayo a daga?
                         Ngem sadino ti pagbirokanta?
                         Saanta nga ammo dagiti lugar
                              A nakaiwaraswarasanda.

                         Kasano a pagsublien ida
                         Ket nakaro ti bisin ken rutayrutay
                         Ti Santa Maria ken Darayday?

                          Bessag ti basikaw a bulan
                          Agsaoka, Anastacia, agsaoka.
                          Kasaom ti bulan        

From Ernest Hemingway's "A Clean Well-lighted Place"

July 22, 2018. A Saturday in Fountain Valley, in the apartment of niece Michelle who has just arrived from a two-week vacation in the Philippines.

From Ernest Hemingway, "A Clean Well-lighted Place." A character on his way home from work. He was praying, but he changed the words to suit his mood, thus:

Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nada.

Hate Can Kill

Hate is a normal human emotion. But when a person harbors it for so long, it causes so much pain and agony and it can kill him.

Hate that spawns greed and jealousy is a virus that the person can spread to others and the problem--disunity, wars, and other conflicts-- is multiplied in the world.

Love can defeat hate and this was the message of the Teacher of Galilee whose enemies killed him on the cross. A hating person has a closed mind and love has a hard time penetrating or entering this closed door that consumes him or her.

****

"This is the true joy of life: the being used up for a purpose regarded by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."--George Bernard Shaw 

What "Nakem" Means

"Nakem," an Ilokano word, has multiple meanings that include intelligence, intellect, consciousness, awareness. It has a moral sense, as in "naimbag a nakem," (roughly translated as goodwill) which reflects a positive Christian value as lived by the Ilokanos, an ethnolinguistic group in the so-called Amianan in Northern Luzon, Philippines and the Ilokano Diaspora in Mindanao, Hawaii and the US Mainland including Alaska.

The 12 Nakem Conference was held at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on November 16-18, 2017.