Another PowerPoets Year

Once a month, a motley crew of aspiring poets gather at PowerBooks Arnaiz (Makati City) for an Open Mike Poetry Session (with no mike). A few hours ago, I hosted the third anniversary of the Sessions and did my darndest to keep things upbeat and interesting, the same way as last year. I introduced brain-tugging poetry exercises to the group to give the session an added flavor. Nobody seemed to complain.

Before ending each session, we have a rengga, wherein everyone contributes one line to a poem. The catch is, a writer is only allowed to read the line before his, making for an intriguing challenge to the collective intelligence. Effectively, no one is quite sure what the poem is going to be about. And more often, the poem spirals down into a blob of nonsense, crassness, and ill-respect, like this piece written collectively during last year's session:

Naiwan ang 'yong amoy sa iyong kamison
Maliit na parisukat na nagkukubli ng iyong katawan
Kahit engkantado, sa iyo ay mabibighani
Datapwat lahat ng ito'y iaalay para lamang sa pag-ibig
Dapit-hapon man
Bukang-liwayway man, puso't isip, tuon sa iyo
Balahura! Balahura ka!
Anak ng tinapa! Sa isip ko'y di mabura!
Buwiset! Mukha ka talagang tilapia! Buwiset!
Isinusuka ko ang pagkain ko kanina sa pagkatao mong madumi
Honey, amoy danggit ka pa rin hanggang ngayon!!!


This time, we were all caught by surprise at the deliciously coherent rengga result. One was done in English, the other in Filipino. Following is the Filipino one:

Napawi na rin ang uhaw ng iyong kalungkutan
Na tila walang katapusan sa haba ng gabi
At ang araw ay mistulang mahambing(?) na natutulog sa dibdib ng Sierra Madre
Habang ang lamig at simoy ng gabi'y umuugong sa kalawakan
Isip ko'y abala sa pagbabalik-tanaw ng mga nakaraan sa aking buhay
Nguni't kapag ikaw'y kapiling ang aking buhay at pananaw ay nagniningning at punong-puno ng buhay, saya, at pag-asa
dahil ikaw ay mahal sa akin
Nakakabingi ang pintig ng aking puso, nguni't ang pag-ibig ay sadyang tuso
Matagal na rin akong nag-iisip, nag-aalala, nalulunod sa sariling pagkukunwari
Dapat pa nga ba ako magtiis, magpakatatag, magpakatotoo?
Utang na loob ko sa sarili ko na gawin ko ito
Labag man sa aking damdamin, pilit kong itaas ang aking lakas


Sure, there's bits left to be desired, grammatically. But for a rare beauty like this, we were really happy with it.

Join us for a session or two. It's an open field where no one is judged. We're all amateurs who love to write in verse. Now if we could only have a mike...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How To Pace Comics

What Would You Do With 11 Billion Pesos?

Two Weeks Since Burnout