Remembering the Ilokano poet Alfredo Navarro Salanga

WHEN KRIS AQUINO WAS SLEEPING WITH JOEY MARQUEZ Like the newspaper/magazine column, poetry is a form of communication. But unlike the former which delivers its message in precise, direct and exact language, poetry's appeal lies in its use of figures of speech, symbols and other devices. A poem has many hidden meanings and may not mean what it says in certain levels. Its literal meaning differs from its connotative sense, but the message is always there. Where the prose writer uses so many words to bring out an idea or a point of view, the poet is sparse, but saying mouthfuls with all the passion and tenderness of a sensitive observer of the local scene. The poem below was actually composed in 2003, and appeared in the defunct The Gazette which had its editorial offices in Baguio, where the blogger used to be the Information Manager of the Philippine Information Agency covering the Cordillera Administrative Region.The original title was ' Feeling like the poet Alfrredo, thinking of Kris Aquino and Victoria Toh'. There is no error in the spelling of Alfrredo. That's how the dead Ilokano poetaster spelled his first name towards the last years of his life.

To whom shall I address this poem,/having read Turtle Voices, in Uncertain Weather, the masterpiece/Of Alfrredo Navarro Salanga,/published/After he died of a disease/That consumed his kidneys in the 1980s?/He was a craftsman par excellence,/Spinning and weaving words- phrases,/ Sentences, even clauses are squirming/In the pages, surprising with /rare discovery, like some artifacts/Buried deep in ancient rocks./This San Fernando native/Was a great poet indeed./He drenches you/With rains of metaphors/And similes galore./He rues for the child and the small man/And pokes fun of rulers, dictators,/Burning their loot and their souls/In the eternal sulfur fire. (to be continued) Photo captions: Currimao, Ilocos Norte beach; sunrise on the Padsan river in Laoag; and San Fernando City skyline.