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.

The Wisdom of Not Judging a Situation

Just let go. Roll with the punches.
This is easier said than done, especially those who are physically abused. The emotional scar takes a long time to go away. But the healing could take place early.

J. Krishnamurti, the Indian guru, said, "What happens does not affect me," or something similar. He lived a long life and his wisdom is known far and wide.
.
A Zen master, reacting to a report, said, "Is that so?" Another said, "Maybe."

Nothing is permanent; all is temporary, in transit like the high wind that will not stay and destroy.
Sic transit gloria mundi.  St. Paul spoke of transitory glory.

This, too, will pass. A wise man said this to a king. And he, the ruler, lived in peace and quiet.

You may have all the wealth and the honor in the world, but you, when the time comes, will leave them behind.

Prayer For Cancer-stricken Friends

Our Heavenly Father, you created Mariel and Feliciana for your own purpose and enjoyment and you smiled at their birth. They, too, worked among your creations, according to your will. But they are only humans and they also suffer as they go on with their separate lives. They have been afflicted with a disease for many years but it is hard for them to defeat this illness. Have mercy. Free them from pain and agony.


1. Mariel R., formerly of San Fernando City, La Union, now a long time resident of West Covina in California. She lives with her two children--a boy and a girl, now grown-up, all born in the Philippines. Mariel was married to a certain Tony, also from San Fernando, who left her when she was still working at the regional office of the Philippine Information Agency.

2. Feliciana J. A., a Bannawag magazine writer, before she immigrated to Darwin, Australia. She has been married for many years to a Lithuanian, who traces his roots to a European royalty (Lithuania). Fele has been with an Ilokano writers' organization for the past years. The husband, in his Twitter account, is soliciting $100,000 donation for her wife, now 77 years old. She originally came from Villasis, Pangasinan.

"There is a time for everything; and a season for every activity under heaven."--Ecclesiastes 3;1

"Writing is spooky. There is no routine of an office to keep you going, only the blank page each morning, and you never know where your words are coming from, those divine words."--Norman Mailer,  an American author, in his book,"The Spooky Art, Some Thoughts on Writing"

Writing and Rhetoric

The art of discovering the title of a poem
as applied to the high priest's theological confusion

All rights reserved


Is the image in the mirror
A reflection of the woman?

Or is the woman  a mirror
Of the image?

Or must she, regaining composure, say,
She is the other woman?

Is the water in the tub
A mirror of God?

Is God in the water
That flows in the river?

Is God in the rains
That fall mainly in the mountains?

Or is God the rains
That flood the plains?

Is God or a woman an image?
A reflection?

A mirror?
A loving invisible invincible?

"Reading a poem is an experience analogous to that of encountering a person. Just as one can think and speak separately of a person's physical appearance, his mind, and his character, so one can consider the formal aspects of a poem, its contents, and its spirit while knowing that in the latter case no less than in the former these different aspects are not really separate but an indissoluble trinity-in-unity."--Wystan Hugh Auden, English-American poet. "Stop all the Clocks" is one of his poems. 

A Mirror of Concerns

We could not discount the possibility that instead of discussing the Ilokano language on a common level, the young writer and her supporters were engaging in scatology that, in a way, mirrors intellectual and moral concerns.

This may be a judgment but nothing is permanent in the world, unlike probably the literature that is supposed to last forever.Like Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection"; Hamlet; and the Greek tragedies.

 And loving-kindness as taught by the teacher from Galilee, the carpenter's son whom Pontius Pilate chose to be executed on the cross of hate and rage.

...

An attempt at humor by touching the behind of a young  woman? And the "joker" is an old man on a wheel chair.

***

The country has abolished capital punishment but it appears this is not so when you see Philippine police kill their victims, drug pushers and drug addicts as if this is the natural thing to do irrespective of the law.

No Llores, Sofia

Estelita on a Singapore street 

 High-rise Singapore buildings

Gilbert bridge across the River Padsan in Laoag

NO LLORES, SOFIA

An unremembered remembering:
The spasm of an imagined
Laughter after love and a bird-call
On a stormy Padsan night
The scimitar moon was emerging
Dripping with yellow liquid fire.

Sorrow lies in a limbo rock.
The door was wide open and the voice
Made no promise to return.


I had wanted to confront
The enigma in your dark eyes
Looking down that road
To the massive church in the east
Where faith ends in cacophony
 At the marketplace.

The space between us now
Is as wide as Death Valley in the desert
As endless as the ocean of peace
As long and eerie as the sun's rays
Sinking in Gabu by the lonely sea
Near the sand mountain.


***

We have to go beyond the mind-thought, away from its noise and clutter and liberate ourselves from hate, anger, greed, the tendency to dominate others, jealousy--this may have been the way the Teacher from Galilee expounded his theory of the eternal message.

STATE OF HEALTH OF SOME OLD ILOKANO WRITERS

     "He is in bad shape," said Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii and Manoa.

     Dr. Agca, as he is known by friends and acquaintances, was referring to Terry Gabriel Tugade who has been living in San Francisco, CA for the past 30 years or more.

    In his blog, Dr. Agca made mention of Terry's open heart surgery last year  I talked to Terry (via messenger) and he was telling me of her eyes failing him--what he usually saw, he said, was all white. He did not sound distressed;  he was saying it matter-of-factly.

     I tried unsuccessfully to contact Terry via the FB account of his daughter Ruby.

     On August 28, at 11 in the morning, Terry died in San Francisco, according to Dr. Agca who had been in contact with Ruby, one of two daughters of Terry. Terry left behind his wife Teresita, from Laoag City; twin daughters Ruby and Michelle, sons Edward and Gerald. He will be buried on September 5, at the Holy Cross Cemetery, 1500 Mission Road, Colma, CA.

The following month, sometime in September, Manuel Saguiped Diaz, died in his village in Nagsaag, San Manuel, Pangasinan. This was relayed to us by another writer Prescy Bermudez. Manny was a tri-lingual writer.

Lovi Poe, Philippine Actress

There is more than the acting skill of Lovi Poe--her haunting loveliness. May the scriptwriter of Mulawin Vs. Ravena give her more speaking parts.

Writing Drought

Trying to end the writing drought by composing a poem inspired by Adrienne Rich, one of America's top poets. But no poem came out of a sky of utmost blue. The brain has lost its luster in the world of dreams.

++++

How well did I practice my art today? Was it worth it? At this age, does it matter if I did it well or good? The question is I did not write anything. Just let the time goes by.

@@@

Kenny Rogers was wearing a blue shirt with long sleeves. He has grown old--now 82 years- and he told his audience, he would be sitting while he belts his country music in the 60s. And the audience at the 1200 seat theater of the Pechanga Casino resort in Temecula joined in the singing. It was almost a full house. It was 7 PM when the concert began.


Memory

Remembering the snows we tread at the Medi-Park near a lake in Amarillo and the rare rains falling at the rooftop of the building-apartment of the Philipine nurses. We stayed in the Texas town for several months.

The "Confession" of Fidel Valdez Ramos and the Martial Law of Ferdinand Marcos.

"My atonement was leading the military and the police during the EDSA People Power Revolution. From the 22nd to 25th of February 1986 and I stand by that record. It's there in history books."--Fidel Valdez Ramos, former Philippine president, in response to Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos's comment on the role of FVR as one of the enforcers of martial law during the reign of Ferdinand Marcos.

Christian atonement is reconciliation with God as a result of the death of Christ. In Judaism, it is reconciliation with God by means of repentance and confession of one's transgressions. It boils down to the meaning "amends or reparation for an injury or wrong."

An individual gives an apology for a wrong or injury inflicted on another person or society.

Fidel Valdez Ramos, at the mercy of Convalescence and the Almighty God, was head of the Philippine Constabulary, fore-runner of the Philippine National Police, that executed by Martial Law during the reign of Ferdinand Marcos. It was FVR who gave the arrest orders against the perceived enemies of the state at that time.

FVR has never apologized in public for whatever excesses the apparatus of Martial Law allegedly made to save the state from falling into the hands of the communists and allies in the Christian churches including politicians like Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr.

Historical antecedents show that the victors take the spoils of war and rewrite history for their own glory and edification. That's precisely what happened when the new centurions took over the power to run the country.

And so we have the new oligarchs that replaced those that FM wanted to disappear from Philippine society.

 

No July 4th Celebration

It's Wednesday, July 4th, but no celebration that I know here in Menifee. A hot windless day, the burns the struggling leaves of at least two potted avocado plants.
 The evening rests in the mountains and may wait in pain for the messengers of memories.

On Poetry and Writing

Feel it.
If you hear a crack in the skull, describe it as best you can.
Don't tell all. Hide what you want to say. Let the reader find out what you want to say.
A poem is a different genre. It is not a  news article or essay or other journalistic writings.
The reader of a poem experiences a feeling beyond words. Needless to say, the reader is not experiencing what the poet experienced; it may be the result of what he reads in the poem.

"If you cannot write clearly, that's because either your head is muddled or you are too afraid to reveal your true feelings and thoughts. To me, clarity is a great virtue of the intellect."--a character in "A Map of Betrayal," a first-person novel by Ha Jin

***
"If tomatoes wanted to be melons,
they would look completely ridiculous.
I am always amazed
that so many people are concerned
with wanting to be what they are not;
what's the point of making yourself ridiculous?"--Mitsuo Aida, Japanese poet, and calligrapher

A writer or journalist has to tell the truth

For him or her to be credible as a journalist, he or she must tell the truth. And the truth is a simple compendium of facts obtained by using the tools of the trade. The tools are the 5 Ws--what, who, why, when, where; and H, how. And we also speak here of accurate information, like the correct name of a person, even the spelling of the name. The responsible journalist checks and rechecks his facts or data.

Facts on the ground show that the country's major media outlets, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and ABS-CBN TV Network, have not been telling the whole truth with respect to the acts and projects of Mr. Rodrigo Roa Duterte. He has started exposing their dirt in public; of course, his own version of truth.

***

We are still a God-forsaken wilderness of hate, anger, recriminations--a fractured culture where criminals, womanizers, robber barons and other shady characters reign supreme like Roman centurions.

The Nonverbal Communication

The Science of Kinesics or Wordless Communication

If I talk to you in person and you listen, you may know me as a person, not the one you imagined who I am or imagined me to be. And vice-versa. I will hear your message-- in your voice, in your tone, in your face, in your whole body--and, most probably from inside of you, your heart and your soul.
And if you read this post as written, will you have an idea of my person or part of my person?

The Tobacco Monopoly Monument and the Roman Catholic Sinking Tower
in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Philippines