Stares and Silences

Nonfiction by | July 25, 2010

I used to live in Tabon-Tabon, a remote barrio in Tandag — a place where people wake up early to the crowing of roosters and the coming of dawn. People here wash clay pots at a nearby well, chop logs for fire behind their homes, and carry shovels, rusted sickles, and enough food and water to last the whole day in the farm. Early each morning, men and some women walk in a ceremonial procession — a troop of farmers in layers of thick coats, torn jeans, boots, and mud-dried palm hats. Men drill ostentatiously on the narrow paths along irrigations to separate their own portion of rice land.

Continue reading Stares and Silences

Dakong Liki

Poetry by | July 25, 2010

Sa imong paglili,
napuno ko sa kakulba,
sa kanerbyos ug sa kabalaka.
basin kon makita mo
ining dako kong liki,
di na ko nimo undangan;
maganahan ka’g kulkog,
hangtod sa di na nimo lun-an.

Sa imong paggunit,
dyutay pangurog
ang akong nabati.
misamot sukad imong
gibasa ug gipaslakan
gamit ng gahi mong butang.
singot pay ako
di gayod mabangbang.

Sa imong pagduot,
kangulngol akong nabatian
gitusok mo ning
liki’g pinakalit,
Aguroy! Perte na lang gayod kasakit!
Uyog nganhi, uyog ngadto
Pastilan… Kalami!

Hay na lang dok, salamat,
naibot ra gyud ning ngipon
sa bungi.

—
Si Reymond estudyante sa Ateneo de Davao University.

Tumong

Poetry by | July 25, 2010

ang mga bitoon
wala baya’y timon

ang bulan wala
say layag

apan kabalo
sila asa paingon

paspas ang pagtagbo
sa kagabhion

—-
Si Ric S. Bastasa usa ka huwes sa Dipolog City.

Panaw sa Ilalom sa Ulan sa Lawod nga Dagat

Poetry by | July 25, 2010

Panaw sa Ilalom sa Ulan sa Lawod nga Dagat
by Ric S. Bastasa

milabay ta sa mga batong
bungtod nga
opaw, sa sakayan nga
walay layag

wala nato damha ang
kusog nga ulan
pagkadagko sa lusok
nga nangahulog
sa aping sa dagat

apan mas dagko ang
sa imo

wa na ko mahikurat kabahin
anang mga mais
nga luha sa langit nga
gitisok sa
lapad nga dughan sa dagat

ang akong nahihumduman
mao lamang nga
init kaayo ang tambutso sa
baroto og duro nakong
hawid sa katig

—-
Si Ric S. Bastasa usa ka huwes sa Dipolog City.

Bukambibig 2010

Events by | July 20, 2010


Bukambibig 2010, the poetry reading series of the Davao Writers Guild, will have a public performance on July 22 (Thursday) at Gaisano South (Ilustre) 5/F Entertainment Center. Event starts at 6 PM. Special guests are Tita Lacambra-Ayala and Aida Rivera Ford.

Bukambibig will also be heard on Blue Knight Radio through Mellow Touch (94.7MHz DXLL) on July 27, 29, and 31, from 11:00AM to 11:45AM.

Saying Goodbye

Nonfiction by | July 18, 2010

I think I was the last person she saw before she went into coma. Her vitals dropped earlier that morning and so we gathered by her bedside at two in the morning. A few of her friends were there, family members, me and my sister, while she took deep heaves for elusive oxygen. Our pastor friend was there and by the looks of it, I could guess, he suffered a momentary distress as to what to pray for. What could we pray for? Plaster all the punctures in the heart? Revive the collapsed left lung? Scrape off all the cancer from the liver? In one miraculous swoop? I’m sure God could do all that, but I’m quite content that God was just there in the love of the people she spent her life with.

So the pastor, finally asked us: “What do you want to pray for?” Nobody answered. It was as if it was all too much to ask. But someone had to answer. “If she’s going, I pray she does so painlessly,” I replied. Almost everyone bowed their heads. Was that too rash? Heartless? Too fast?

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Frostbitten Apathy

Poetry by | July 18, 2010

What’s in our aircon classrooms
that convinces you that
the blood in your veins is blue?

The coldness makes you half-frozen
thin layer of flaking skin
wrapping your meandering tenderness.

Move. Why don’t you move?
Wipe the mists from the window pane;
mists like tears held back.

Wipe the mists, wipe the tears.
Beyond the windows
is the dying race of the living.

—-
Paul Randy Gumanao is a BS Chemisty student of Ateneo de Davao University.

Pakopyahin Mo Na Nga Ako

Poetry by | July 18, 2010

Pakopyahin mo na nga ako
– Matuto ka nang makisama –
Sige na, huling beses na ‘to

Lahat na nga ay nasa iyo
‘di mo pa kayang magparaya
– pakopyahin mo na nga ako!

Syet kasi ‘tong teacher nating ‘to
Wala namang silbi ‘tong quiz niya-
(Sige lang, huling beses na ‘to…)

Sige ka, at kasalanan mo
Kung hindi ako makapasa!
Pakopyahin mo na nga ako!

Believe me, ‘tol, kahit ayoko
Requirement na pati kumopya
(-kaya nga huling beses na ‘to…

(…Amin pa kaya ‘tong buhay na ‘to?
Basta, tapos na ‘to mamaya…)
– Pakopyahin mo na nga ako
talagang huling beses na ‘to.

—-
Karlo Antonio David is a 3rd Year AB English student of Ateneo de Davao University.