Quotables from Leoncio Deriada's Rabid

-"An M.A., like marriage could wait."

-"I have decided that the dried fish should not be fried but cooked directly over the embers under the pot of rice." Yum, yum... Oyy, ang mga manggaranon indi ka relate. :)

-"The doctors in Mandur(r)iao were correct in advising Manong Bading and Remedios to take the girl home. It was cheaper to die there." So true...

The story "Rabid" can be found in Dr. Deriada's much-praised "Week of the Whales and Other Stories" collection. It brings to mind the literary show of force of William Carlos Williams' aptly titled "A Show of Force", another literary medical story. The "swelling dog scratch" after four months after it has happened is a bit unbelievable but nevertheless, Ilonggo culture is embedded in this text and very integral so that it truly is an Ilonggo story. The arogante attitude of the unnamed central character reminds me so much of dear old Sir Leo's own ere. and it is the same with some of the other male characters in the other stories. Especially the farmers turned teachers who, in returning to their "home" villages, acquire a certain arrogance, a swagger if you will.

Read "The Week of the Whales and Other Stories". I'm only halfway through it but its revealing so much of how the man, we in the recent generation of writers call the Father of Modern Western Visayas Literature, is. He defintely has a peculiar writing style, a particular English, I couldn't quite put a finger on yet. I am happy to have found my copy in New Day Publishers' booth during the last Manila International Book Fair. And the best part, it was only for 55 pesos. ;) I bought Nightmares, also by Deriada, too. I'm sure after both books and some of his published poems, I can finally have a clearer picture of the much-vaunted Deriada short story and hopefully some of his technique would be routed in my writing brain.

Poetry-in-Motion

Watch the performance of Lit 1 classes (one section shown at the left) in "Bilog ang Bulan, Buhi ang Binalaybay" on September 15, 2008 at the UPV New Administration Building.

Bilog ang Bulan, Buhi ang Binalaybay

Everybody is invited to attend "Bilog ang Bulan, Buhi ang Binalaybay: A night of poetry reading & performance" on September 15, 2008, 6:00 pm, at the New Administration Building, University of the Philippines Visayas, Miagao, Iloilo. This is in line with UP's celebration of its centennial year. This is also a "homecoming" for the "starters" (or why not "mothers") of the poetry-in-motion in the Visayas, which, FYI, was started in UPV Miagao in the 1990s.

Reading and performing in the event will be Prof. Jonathan Jurilla, Prof. John Barrios, Prof. Kevin Piamonte, Prof. Robert Rodriguez, Prof. Rey Carlo Gonzales, Prof. Alfredo Diaz, Prof. Tomasito Talledo, Mr. Emmanuel Lerona, and members of different UPV student organizations, namely, UPV Literati, Choristers, and Hublag.

This activity is presented by UP Visayas Division of Humanities and UPV Literati.

paano pumatay ng demonyo

paano pumatay ng demonyo
Rodelen Paccial

...at kung paano pumatay ng demonyo,
yan ang huling lektyur nya sa amin,
bago siya magkayab sa kalangitan.

palitan mo ang kanyang pangalan.
sa iyong isip,
gawin mong Kerwin o Jhun-jhun,
ang demonyo'y demonyo lamang
dahil tinatawag mo siyang
katungaling kahanay mo sa listahan
ng mga astig na hangaway.

ika'y malikot na espada,
ika'y mabigat na panghampas,
palitan ang estado ng mundo,
paslangin ang mga demonyong
Kerwin o Jhun-jhun.

Meeting

Calling all DagyangPulong boys and girls:

There will be a free-for-all workshop on February 23, Saturday, at the UP Main Library. I repeat, FREE-FOR-ALL. (Organizer's announcement here.) Madam French will be the resource person, and I will be assisting her, so I hope you will be there, too! :-)

Kag para masadya, maayu siguro nga kita makatipun-tipon liwat pagkatapos sang sini nga hilikuton. Rod and Marcell have already confirmed their attendance. Madiretso kita kanday Marcell in the evening for poetry reading sa iya nga Kafe Binalaybay. I hope may free dinner, hehe.
Kitakits!

Pangumusta

Daw sa ano bala nga ari na ako diri. :-)
First of all, congratulations to all the members of DagyangPulong (for still being there), and to its new set of officers who have just been elected last February 13, 2008.

February is still in the early parts of 2008, so we still have the right to say "We should start the year right." And how better do we start this year for DagyangPulong right than by being there at the "private" opening of Marcell Milliam's Kafe Binalaybay? That's tonight, ladies and gentlemen, February 18, 2008. So kitakits later! :-)

Curfew Poetry Anthology

Axel Pinpin Dilemma ni Carpio

Francisco Arias Monteseña Kuyom

Genevieve Mae B. Aquino Alzheimer's in the Philippines

German V. Gervacio Hu Let Da Dogs Awt?! Hu-Hu-Huhu!

Gracia Alcantara Perdiguerra Fugue
Mark Angeles Fury Tales

Marlon Hacla Isang Pagtutol

Melvin Medes Mga Taong Apoy

Michelle Brences Policurfew

Noel Sales Barcelona Bakit Gloring?

Raul Funilas May Kaba Sa Bawat Hakbang Ng Manghihimagsik

Ravelth Castro-Belicena Mundong Parisukat

Rodelen Paccial Emerald

Rustum Casia One Night Only

Victor Emmanuel Carmelo D. Nadera Jr. Anibersaryo Ngayon ng Martial Law

http://makoydakuyko y.multiply. com/journal/ item/35/Curfew_ Poetry_Anthology

Looking at pictures of our internship year

Looking at pictures of our internship year
(For my Med School Buddies)
Rodelen Paccial

When we were much younger,
And we had much more oil in our faces,
And we were trying to be doctors at the same time,
When we couldn’t sleep
And envy the janitor’s roosters
When we slept and regretted,
When we were half asleep
And couldn’t put in an intravenous catheter,
When we were exposed to the myriad variations
Of vulvae and penises,
Of appendices and breasts,
When we drank and got merry
And blame ourselves the next day,
When we couldn’t eat
when we didn’t have time to eat
when we were faced with the choice
of sleeping or eating,
when we had to wear the same
briefs and panties for more
than twenty four hours
(i know because I looked)
When dreams were fresh
When dreams of becoming
Greater than ourselves
For the sake of others
Were a mantra
Silently repeated in the deep
Silence of our brains,
Because all we did was curse,
On how so much sickness
Can be in this world
And land in your OPD table.

That was the time we fell in love with this occupation and preoccupation,
For like a woman we had to fetch water for and chop wood for,
Medicine was coy and lovely,
Promised everything,
But not now, she said.
“Everything”, she said,
And the wooing was just fine,
Outside her gates,
We chose to stand
And labor while she waits.