Tag: Don Pagusara

(2.24.2017. Poet-activist Don Pagusara  sang the lyrics of the poem Lupad Langgam sa Kalinaw during a unified call to resume peace negotiations. Photo by Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz)

 

Lupad, langgam sa Kalinaw
Ipamukway ang mga pangindahay
Lupad, dumdoma ug subaya
Ang tanang dalandalan
Sa langit ug kahanginan.

Lupad, langgam sa Kalinaw
Tultola ang mga suok sa langit
Dugmoka ang tanang mga dag-om
Nga naghasi ug nagsalimbong
Sa dalisay nga kahayag.

Lupad, langgam sa Kalinaw
Sum-oka ang tanang mga panganod
Lupad, ipabuhagay ang damgo
Nga dugay nang gitan-ogan
sa kasingkasing sa katawhan.

Lupad, langgam sa Kalinaw
Ipamukway ang mga dalisayng mithi
Lupad, isabwag ug isangyaw
Ang mga hamiling binhi
Sa hardin sa kasaysayan.

Lupad, langgam sa Kalinaw
Ikapakapa ang putling pangandoy
Nga gihuni sa imong mga pako —
ang huni sa tiunayng Kalinaw.

Lupad, langgam sa Kalinaw Lupad! Lupaaaaad!

 

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Don Pagusara is an award-winning poet and playwright. He has been an awardee of the Unyon sa mga Magsusulat sa Pilipinas and the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial for Literature.

Mahal kong Diyosa (Cebuano)

Matag gutlo ug tipik sa gutlo
nga nagalakat ang akong mga tudlo
sa hubo mong lawas gikan ulo hangtod tuhod,
migilok ang mga unod sa akong handurawan.
Naghinam ko nga nakuyawan, nagsud-ong
sa bililhong hiyas sa imong pagka babaye—
katahomang gitukib ug giawit sa mga baylan
latas sa daghanang kaliwatan.

Continue reading Mahal kong Diyosa

tropeyo sa paghandom kang lota

mi
  da
    gay
       day
kolor sa rainbow lapas
sa      mga     ngilit
    sa     damgo
   g i k u d l i s
sa  imong  mga  mata

mga handom nga nanuyla
sa kwadradong balanse
sa  dan-ag  ug anino
  dili basta-basta
    mapad-as og
 K A M A T A Y O N

—

   cas

      cad

          ing
  colors of the rainbow
      beyond edges
        of dreams
   lines  and  traces
          drawn
       by your eyes

remembrances that spill out
     the framed balance
    of light and shadow
  oh, never be defaced by
      D  E  A  T  H

—
Agustin “Don” Pagusara is an award-winning writer and founding member of the Davao Writers Guild. Along with Macario Tiu, he founded the Ateneo de Davao Writers Workshop, which is on its 15th year. This poem was written in memory of Carlota de Pio, Davao writer and artist, who passed away in May 2014.

Bay Satur, my friend, when was it that Dagohoy by a whistle blow of his lips flew your dream like a kite in the sky?

Wait, you did awake at the flowering season of the word sown by the great Carlos P Garcia, right?

And soon your eyes tried to follow the reaches of your dream as you opened a window of your awakening beneath an awning of your      history.

Bay Satur, while your dream was budding leaves abundant you came down to history’s yard and began your trek on a seldom-traveled road.

Long was this journey you took, but you were blessed with more than enough victuals to sustain you in your trek in history.

Continue reading Satur: Sharp Pen of Bisayan Letters

as soon as the doctor proclaimed
a state of emergency of my heart’s ischemia
owing to the adventurism of a small artery
surreptitiously collecting deposits of cholesterol
from uncontrolled greed for pork and other
corrupt and decadent pleasures of the mouth
as soon protest movements start to sprout
among the citizenry in my oral cavity–the gums
began to turn red as they congest at the edges;
the tongue used to habits of a true gourmet,
kept twisting restlessly like a jailed cadre
of a banned revolutionary labor party;
the teeth gritted noisily simulating diligence
of mimeo machines spewing leaflets, handouts
and manifestos on eve of a mammoth rally;
and oh, the cheeks have widened, perchance
to accommodate slogans in doggerel verse
as wails on jerusalem’s walls (?)–let alone, o my god!
the hushed underground writhing by armpit hairs!
and pubic hairs’ wriggling like medusa’s serpentine anger!
how can my body’s army of muscle and flesh now
execute with dispatch this heart’s scheming desires?

Continue reading ischemic heart