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BY RHICK LARS VLADIMER ALBAY
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Tuesday, February 14, 2017
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I DON’T want to sound like a broken record, but let me just say again that: Valentine’s Day was invented by capitalists to sell cards, flowers and hotel rooms **drops mic, walks out**.
Born out of pop culture’s unrealistic love expectations and the need of the romance industrial complex to make money out of our emotions, February has been mangled to become the month when everyone is suddenly compelled to care about their relationship status (Case in point: all of these large companies strategically releasing “hugot” ads and short films days before V-Day, to toy with our collective psyche).
Cynics and the happily-in-love alike have asked me, “Who your date this Valentine’s Day?” My very simple answer is: “My healthy self-esteem.”
But much as I hate love and all its bourgeois forms, I’m a sucker for poetry and literature that shows a much more sincere and thoughtful expression of love than a 75 percent mark-up box of chocolates or a bouquet of plastic flowers.
Love and literature have a long-standing relationship, from the cuneiform tablet of “The Love Song for Shu-Sin” by a Sumer king (believed to be the world’s oldest love poem) to Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet.
Fun fact: The phrase we’ve probably all scribbled at least once in our elementary classmates’ slum book, “Love is blind”, was popularized by Shakespeare himself. It appears in several of his plays, including Two Gentlemen of Verona, Henry V and The Merchant of Venice.
The full quote is “But love is blind and lovers cannot see.” A passage from the most well-know playwright that is not as popular? “These violent delights have violent ends,” uttered by the friar at Romeo and Juliet’s wedding, predicting their tragic deaths. So romantic, right?
But one of my favorites is a historical poem written by Filipino dramatist Eljay Castro Deldoc. In this fictional piece, Gregoria de Jesus or Oryang receives a letter from Bonifacio thru Julio Nakpil, a few days after her husband is executed by the soldiers of Emilio Aguinaldo.
“Hindi kita nakasalubong upang sa dulo ng kalsada, ako ay liliko sa kanan at ikaw sa kaliwa. Sapagkat saan man tayo dalhin ng ating pakikibaka, ikaw lang ang aking itatangi at makailang ulit na ihaharap sa pulang bandila.
“Hindi tayo nagpalitan ng mga kwento upang sa pinakahuling tuldok ng pangungusap, ang karugtong ay alingawngaw ng katahimikan. Walang pagod kitang aawitan ng imnong pambayan, Oryang.
“Hindi kailanman ako mauubusan ng salita upang maialay sa iyo bilang mga tula. Maging ang bulong at buntung-hininga’y magpapahayag ng pagsinta sa tulad mong umiibig din sa bansa.”
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On Saturday, Feb. 18, me and other emerging writers in the region will be selling zines – booklets and mini-magazines – of our poetry and other works during ZineZoned of Magsugilanonay Kita: West Visayan Mother Tongue Children’s Books Summit, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the 3rd Floor Event Center of Robinsons Place Iloilo and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Book Latte’s new branch at Megaworld, Iloilo Business Park.
My zine is entitled “It’s not easy to erase your blood.” Here is an excerpt from my zine, a piece of Hiligaynon flash fiction entitled, Ayô. Hope to see you there supporting local literature.
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Ayô
Ang lalaki nagaduko kag gaduha-duha nga nagpalapit sa bayi nga gabaligya mangga sa tienda, naganyak sing matam-is nga hamot sing mga prutas.
“Tag pila kilo?”
“Syento baynte,” sabat sing bayi nga daw gasinuplada, wala man lang nagtangla kag nagtamud sa lalaki.
Iya tinggog gakurog kag iya dughan gakuba-kuba, ang laki nagmangkot liwat.
“Pwede kaayo tawad?”
Nag-ginhawa madalum ang bayi bag-o nagsabat.
“Huo,” samtang amat-amat nga nagtingla para matulok ang laki sa mata, gatulo ang iya luha pero gayuhum sing maanyag kag masadya./PN
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