LIRA poetry workshop now accepting applicants

The Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo (LIRA) is now accepting applicants for its annual poetry workshop, to be held from June to August 2008. From the LIRA website:

Bukas na pong muli ang LIRA sa mga nais magpatalâ upang lumahok sa taunang klinikang pampanulaan. Ang klinika po ay gaganapin mula 9:00 n.u hanggang 5:00 n.h. tuwing Sabado at Linggo, at magtatagal nang tatlong buwan, mula Hunyo hanggang Agosto.

Tulad po ng mga nakaraang taon, magpadala po ng isang pahinang bio-data na may 1×1 ID picture, kasama ang limang tula sa Filipino, sa liraworkshop@gmail.com, o ilagay ito sa pigeon hole ni Prof. Vim Nadera sa UP Institute of Creative Writing, 2/F Faculty Center, College of Arts and Letters, UP Diliman. Ang huling araw po ng pagpapatalâ ay ang ika-30 ng Abril, 2008.

April 8, 2008 | Filed Under Events | Leave a Comment

Two Poems: Kenneth Koch and Louise Gluck

April is National Poetry Month and okay, it’s not a Philippine activity but let’s appropriate their holidays for better poetry appreciation, yeah? I’ll be posting two poems every weekend of the month, with a personal commentary about my views towards the poems and as a way to showcase how reading good poetry doesn’t have to be academic in order to be worthwhile.

That being said, I will put a disclaimer here. Many of the things I will write are extremely subjective. Poetry is something I’m passionate about, but it’s an n00b’s brand of love–I do not use the correct terminologies and I may be severely uninformed. For those who would want to correct me though, feel welcome to do so. There’s nothing more stimulating than a good discussion.

First, let’s start off with a love poem:

To You
by Kenneth Koch

I love you as a sheriff searches for a walnut
That will solve a murder case unsolved for years
Because the murderer left it in the snow beside a window
Through which he saw her head, connecting with
Her shoulders by a neck, and laid a red
Roof in her heart. For this we live a thousand years;
For this we love, and we live because we love, we are not
Inside a bottle, thank goodness! I love you as a
Kid searches for a goat; I am crazier than shirttails
In the wind, when you’re near, a wind that blows from
The big blue sea, so shiny so deep and so unlike us;
I think I am bicycling across an Africa of green and white fields
Always, to be near you, even in my heart
When I’m awake, which swims, and also that I believe that you
Are trustworthy as the sidewalk which leads me to
The place where I think of you, a new
Harmony of thoughts! I love you as the sunlight leads the prow
Of a ship which sails from Hartford to Miami, and I love you
Best at dawn, when even before I am awake the sun
Receives me in the questions which you always pose.

This will be a central theme for most of the poetry I will post, eheh. The other is also about love, but a mournful one, and something that is told in quiet, distilled verses. But for simple love declarations, I find that I’m partial to rambly, extremely naive poems like this one and Having a Coke with You by Frank O’Hara. There is, of course, a danger in it, because it can so easily sound uh, retarded. And admittedly “To You” has less of the musicality I search for in poetry, but I’ve forgiven lesser poems than this in the face of one kick-ass metaphor. This poem has more than five. My favorites are the first line (of course), “I am crazier than shirttails / In the wind, when you’re near,”"I think I am / bicycling across an Africa of green and white fields / Always, to be near you.” I have read that Hartford is actually landlocked and so his analogy is absurd in this way, LOL. But it’s exactly the way we are at love, I feel, because trivial things like geography can easily be overlooked.

Kenneth Koch was associated with the New York School. Here is an interview talking about John Ashberry and Frank O’Hara. Also, I’m sad to discover that he’s dead.

The New York School and the Beat Generation of San Francisco are indispensable if you want vibrant, witty poems that never run out of odd images and similes. Other favorites that write on the same vein are Lawrence Ferlighetti (still alive! :o), Kenneth Rexroth and Gregory Corso. I find Allen Ginsberg (especially the latter poems) and Jack Kerouac highly overrated, sry. :/

The Triumph Of Achilles
by Louise Glück

In the story of Patroclus
no one survives, not even Achilles
who was nearly a god.
Patroclus resembled him; they wore
the same armor.

Always in these friendships
one serves the other, one is less than the other:
the hierarchy
is always apparent, though the legends
cannot be trusted–
their source is the survivor,
the one who has been abandoned.

What were the Greek ships on fire
compared to this loss?

In his tent, Achilles
grieved with his whole being
and the gods saw
he was a man already dead, a victim
of the part that loved,
the part that was mortal.

I’m sorry for not having a lot of things to say for this poem, because I’ve read it more than a dozen times and it still leaves me speechless. I’ll say though that my favorite part is this: “though the legends / cannot be trusted — their source is the survivor,/ the one who has been abandoned.” I may be horribly misreading this line, but it feels to me like the very act of ‘tribute’ or ‘remembrance’ will always say something more about the grieving one than the actual dead person. The way that Patroclus comes down in history as “friend of Achilles” and not the other way around also layers their relationship in terms of the equality(?) between them. It’s also interesting to note how the title contains the word “triumph” yet the body of poem describes Achilles grieving.

Glück has a knack for fleshing out mythological figures into flawed but still super-human characters. Her latest poetry collection, Averno, uses the Hades and Persephone myth to talk about the shadows of love, marriage, and possession.

April 6, 2008 | Filed Under Reviews | 1 Comment

Updates

Our column in Manila Bulletin still comes out weekly so you can check it out for our current preoccupations etc. The first phase of Write or Die is (nearly) finished; we’ll start a new round come June 2008.

In the meantime still working on the ‘new’ public site of Read Or Die so people emailing us re: broken links etc, we’ll be back up to snuff soon, i.e., by next week. RoD is undergoing some major re-engineering (not so much re-organization). We started out as a book club, but after RodCon 2007, RoD has evolved into something much bigger, and we’ve had to give serious thought about its sustainability and how it can be effective not just as a book club, but as a reading advocacy, and we don’t think that we can do this by ourselves any longer. We’ve been amazed at the level of support that we have received but we frankly can’t catch up anymore and we don’t want to let this entire thing grind to a halt simply because most of us have had to deal or are dealing with major career and lifestyle changes etc. We were just a bunch of readers who had no ambitions aside from meeting other like-minded geeks, but Read or Die is not, well, it’s not about us, really, and it hasn’t been for a long time. Corny ba? Anyway, as I mentioned in an earlier post, watch out for a more detailed announcement in the next couple of weeks.

April 6, 2008 | Filed Under Latest | Leave a Comment

Panibagong Paraan 2008 Showcases Innovative Ideas

Taking a break from your regular literary postings (that have not been so regular lately–which will change this April! we promise!):

Panibagong Paraan 2008 Showcases Innovative Ideas

Chief Justice (Ret.) Artemio Panganiban will open the Panibagong Paraan 2008 Philippine Development Innovation Marketplace on Wednesday, April 9 at 11 A.M., at the Megatrade Halls of SM Megamall.

He will deliver the keynote speech for the event where project proposals from 99 finalists in a nationwide search for innovative ideas will be judged and presented to the public. The theme of the competition is: “Building Partnerships for Effective Local Governance”.

The project proposals cover a wide range of activities from environmental protection to women’s rights, youth empowerment, livelihood generation, governance and administration. At least 30 winners of the project grant competition will receive up to P1 million each to implement their projects within one year.

The awarding ceremonies will be keynoted by Dr. Milwida Guevara, the 2008 Gawad Haydee Yorac awardee for outstanding public service, CEO of Synergeia Foundation, and a proponent of local good governance through the Galing Pook Foundation. Emceeing the award ceremony is TV host, Edu Manzano.

Four simultaneous round table discussions on the issue of building partnerships for effective local governance will be held on April 9, from 2 to 4 p.m., hosted by the Caucus for Development NGOs (CODE-NGO), Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN), the Local Government Academy (LGA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The topics lined up are: “Are Political Dynasties a Threat to Democratic Governance?”; “Does Community Participation Ensure Transparency and Social Accountability in Local Governance?”, Youth Participation in Governance: A Harbinger of Change in Leadership Style or an Opportunity to Corrupt or Exploit Young Leaders?” and “The Business Case for Cutting Red Tape at the Local Level”.

An on-the-spot poster making contest will also be held on Thursday afternoon (from 2 to 4:30) for children 7 to 12 years of age, facilitated by the Ilustrador ng Kabataan (INK), an organization of artists who illustrate children’s books.

Speaking at a workshop on skills sharing on April 10 at 10 a.m., is fundraiser John Silva who gives grant-writing seminars to NGOs, non-profits, universities, religious organizations, foundations and individuals. Silva will make presentations about project development, advocacy and lobbying techniques and effective strategies for resource mobilization.

A Winners’ Forum on April 10 (from 1 to 5 p.m.) will feature presentations by selected past winners of Panibagong Paraan and Galing Pook

Musical and cultural numbers will be performed throughout the two days by LGU groups such as the Marikina Rondalla, Teatro Marikeno, Bungkos Palay Performing Arts Foundation of the Science City of Munoz, and others. Admission is free.

Panibagong Paraan is a joint undertaking of the World Bank, the Department of Interior and Local Government – Local Government Academy, AusAID-PACAP, Peace and Equity Foundation, Canadian International Development Agency, the Philippine Center for Population and Development, the British Embassy, Team Energy Foundation, The Asia Foundation, USAID, ADB, CODE-NGO, the League of Corporate Foundations, and the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement.

For more information, please go to www.panibagongparaan.com

April 6, 2008 | Filed Under Events | 2 Comments

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