MODULE 2 : POETRY FROM THE ARCHIPELAGO

Poetry is probably the most sophisticated of all literary genres. Your Filipino ancestors,
through oral tradition, shared epics, proverbs, riddles, and folksongs in poetic form – with a
specific formal scheme in which they strictly followed. Writer and literary critic Gemino Abad has
written that the journey to creating a local poetic identity has been continually transformed by the
different colonizers who have stayed in the country and the continued fascination with languages
– be it English, Filipino, Visayan, Bikolano, and so much more. Yet, poetry is still the chosen
genre for so many local writers, for it offers a uniqueness that other genres may not achieve: the
opportunity to see the world anew, with every single written word.
Philippine Poetry: Its Form, Language, and Speech
Poetry in the Philippines is not different from it other counterparts around the world. In the
early 1900s, Filipino poetry celebrated romanticism, and several poems about love flourished.
Eventually, as the years went on, poetry became more formalist—the emphasis of the poetry is
more on the form and the language that the poet used, rather than the theme itself. The, modern
poetry sprouted, and nowadays, writers are more adventurous in their craft. Here are some
elements of poetry that local writers use in their poems.
Senses and images are used by the writer to describe their impressions of their topic or
object of writing. The writer uses carefully chosen and phrased words to create an imagery that
the reader can see through his or her senses. The kinds of sense impressions in poetry are
categorized in mainly the following: visual imagery (what the writer wants you to see); olfactory
imagery (what the writer wants you to smell); gustatory imagery (what the writer wants you to
taste); tactile imagery (what the writer wants you to feel); and auditory imagery (what the writer
wants you to hear).
Diction is another important element in Filipino poetry. In fact, Filipino writers are very
careful of the way they write and the words they use to form their poems. Diction is the denotative
and connotative meaning of the words in a sentence, phrase, paragraph, or poem.
Rhyme scheme is the way the authr arranges words, meters, lines, and stanzas to create a
coherent sound when the poem is read out loud. It may be formal or informal, depending on the
way the poem was written by the poet.
Senses, imagery, diction, and rhyme scheme are emphasized in this canonical poem,
“Gabu”, one of the most widely read local poems in English by Carlos Angeles.
Carlos Angeles was born on 25 May 1921 in Tacloban, Leyte. He finished his
undergraduate degree in the University of the Philippines and his work has been included in poetry
anthologies in the United States. His poetry collection, Stun of Jewels, won the Republic Cultural
Heritage Award in Literature back in 1964; he also won the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards
in Poetry in the same year. He is an active member of many Filipino-American press clubs in the
US, where he currently resides. His poem, “Gabu”, is said to be one of the most well-loved Filipino
poems written in English.
Gabu
by Carlos A. Angeles

The battering restlessness of the sea

Insists a tidal fury upon the beach
At Gabu, and its pure consistency
Havocs the wasteland hard within its reach.

Brutal the daylong bashing of its heart

Against the seascape where, for miles around,
Farther than sight itself, the rock-stones part
And drop into the elemental wound.

The waste of centuries is grey and dead

And neutral where the sea has beached its brine,
Where the split salt of its heart lies spread
Among the dark habiliments of Time.

The vital splendor misses. For here, here

At Gabu where the ageless tide recurs
All things forfeited are most loved and dear.

It is the sea pursues a habit of shores.

The poem is about a coastline in Ilocos that has been weathered away by the battering of
the restless sea. Somehow, the persona of the poem is able to relate it to one’s situation in life. The
line, “It is the sea pursues a habit of shores,” has many possible interpretations. Can you discuss
with your partner a possible interpretation that you have for that last line?
Now, can you guess the rhyming scheme of the poem? The poem has four quatrains, with
the last one offset by only one line that concludes the poem quite well. Which lines rhyme with
each other? How does this rhyming scheme add to the beauty of the poem?
Another element of poetry used frequently is the idea of a speaker. The speaker in the poem
is the voice that talks to the reader. Sometimes, it refers to itself as “I” or “me” or, sometimes, in
the third person (she, he, his, her). You should also note that the speaker is not necessarily the poet.
The poet may have a different persona in mind while writing the poem and may have not taken the
situations in the poem form his or her life experiences.
The structure of the poem is the arrangement of words and lines, either together or apart.
It also refers to the way the interdependent parts of it are organized to form a whole poem.
Word order is either the natural or the unnatural arrangement of words in a poem. A poet
may use a word grammatically or not—often called as poetic license—and may invent words, too.
Sometimes, as is common in Filipino writers who write in English, Filipino poets use local words
to add more locality to a given poem. If the Filipino word also does not have a direct English
translation, then the poet may use the Filipino word and italicize it for emphasis.
Filipino poetry, although greatly influenced by the previous colonizers of our country,
stands on its own when it comes to its unique elements. There is a certain voice that Filipino poetry
offers—one which a fellow Filipino like you can relate to, especially when you apply these in real
life situations.
Close Reading of Filipino Poetry
The concept of organic unity was established by the New Criticism school of thought. It
says that all the interdependent parts of a literary selection must add up to create one whole. In
literature, all the parts and aspects of a literary selection must contribute to one whole so crucially
that if one part or aspect went missing, the literary selection cannot be complete or may not have
the same meaning anymore. To understand the organic unity of a poem, you must use the process
of close reading. Close reading is a way for you to analyze the poem by carefully reading and
rereading a text until you have found its interpretation.
When you close read Filipino poetry, what must you look out for? You may try to find the
context of the poem—when it was written, the setting in which it was written, the reason why it
was written—for you to better understand its idea. You may also look at its interdependent
elements, as was discussed previously, so that you may find visual clues to its meaning through its
rhyming scheme, overall structure, word order, and the like. You may also try to identify who the
persona is and who the persona is dedicating the poem to. Again, the persona does not necessarily
be the author—it can be any face in local society, someone who fits the description in the poem
quite well.
Try to close read this poem by Marjorie Evasco entitled, “Is It the Kingfisher?”
Marjorie Evasco was born in Bohol on 21 September 1953. She writes bilingually in
English and Cebuano-Visayan, and is considered one of the country’s earliest feminist poets. She
has received numerous awards for her poetry, and in 2010, she received the prestigious South East
Asian Write Award (SEA Write). She is currently a professor emeritus of De La Salle University-
Manila.
Is It the Kingfisher?
This is how I desire god on this island
With you today: basic and blue
As the sea that softens our feet with salt
And brings the living wave to our mouths
Playing with sounds of a primary language,
“God is blue,” sang the poet Juan Ramon Jimenez,
Drunk with desiring, his hair, eyebrows,
Eyelashes turned blue as the kingfisher’s wings.

It is this bird that greets us as we come

 Round the eastern bend of this island;
Tells us the hairbreadth boundary between us
Is transient as the air, permeable to the blue
Of tropic skies and mountain gentian.
Where we sit on this rock covered with seaweeds,
I suddenly feel the blueness embrace us,
This rock, this island, this changed air,
The distance between us and the Self
We have longed to be. A bolt of burning blue
Lights in my brain, gives the answer
We’ve pursued this whole day:
Seawaves sing it, the kingfisher flies in it,
This island is rooted in it. Desiring
God is transparent blue—the color
Which makes our souls visible.
Analysis of the poem
“Is it the Kingfisher?” by Marjorie Evasco for me is about a person who is spiritually
praying and found herself in peace by observing the greatness beauty of the island where she was
on. I also come up with the idea that she think that God was a kingfisher and she describe God as
blue as the kingfishers color, this made me think that it is one of the reason why is it entitled “Is it
the Kingfisher?” .

The good thing about this poem of M. Evasco “Is it the Kingfisher?” it is simply written in
free verse in which lines has no regular sequence or pattern of rhythm and it is not in the same
length (GEMS 2007) . However M. Evasco used free verse to put good words in her piece so that
she can vividly describe the things that she was trying to point out which I think one of her
techniques to capture the readers’ attention.

As I go along reading her piece I found out that M. Evasco used three kinds of figures of
speech that made the poem appear to be more interesting to the readers, these are simile, metaphor
and personification. The line “Eyelashes turned blue as the kingfisher’s wings.” is an example of
simile; she used it to describe the beautiful color of eyelashes that is blue is parallel to the color of
the kingfisher’s wings. The line “God is blue” is an example of metaphor which I think means God
is peace and the line “It is the bird who greet us” also the “blueness embrace us” are examples of
personification because it gives human characteristics to something that is not human.
I also notice that M. Evasco use tone to create the type of mood that she wanted to put on
to her piece and by this it made me think that her poem “Is it the Kingfisher?” must be read in a
gentle way. She uses shallow but beautiful good words that is automatically set to my mind that it
must be read in smooth and calm way.
For me, it is a person who has discovered an inner calmness and sense of purpose of one’s
self, when confronted with the vastness and colors of the island she is on and how it allows her to
see beyond mere physical limitations
The poem “Is It the Kingfisher?” analyzes the relationships one has with a Supreme
Being, in a tropical island where everything seems clear through nature. You should read and
reread poems such as Evasco’s to understand the depth of its meaning. The questions asked in the
Reflect Upon section are guide questions to help you closely read the poem. This time, try reading
the poem out loud with proper pronunciation and enunciation in front of the class. If you have
formed your own interpretation of the poem, try reading it in line with your interpretation by
putting emphasis and feelings on the words and lines which you think are important to its central
message.
Reflect Upon
1. What are the allegorical representations in the poem?
- We continuously search for God. It seems like God is not with us, because we don't see
him, nor feel him physically. But everything we have now, everything we see, feel are
temporary. But God, even if we do not see, hear, smell, feel Him, He is permanent and He
is everywhere. Paradise, God.
2. How do we usually communicate with God?
-We communicate through prayer and reading His Word.
3. What are some things that you see in your daily life that you associate with your faith and
your relationship with God?
Another poem that is made for poetry recitation is Cirilo Bautista’s “Oh How to Find
Silence in the World.”
Cirilo Bautista was born in 1941 and is a well-known poet, fictionist, critic, and nonficition
writer. After receiving a writing fellowship at the International Writing Program in the University
of Iowa, he received an honorary degree and was the only Filipino to be honored there. He has
taught in De La Salle University-Manila and is currently a professor emeritus. Recently, he was
awarded as a National Artist for Literature by the Philippine government.
 Oh How to Find Silence in the World
By Cirilo Bautista
Being spotted in the color of skin,
why I take care in San Francisco,
waiting for the bus to Iowa.
They say racial prejudice is strong,

Negros and not whites kawawa,

and because of this they will revolt.
I shiver and shiver from fear and hunger
because I just landed from Tokyo.

A Negro came into the station—

naka-African hairdo; he holds a small
whip: it’s scary to look, so
I did not look at him. Kumakalansing

the metal on the strings of his shoes

and he shouts, “Peace, brothers!” Smiled showing
white teeth. Looked at me—
maybe he laughed at what he saw—

a tiny dayuhan, dark and from

some lupalog. Upside down
my insides went in fright and pulled
a cigarette so the redness of my face
 wouldn’t show. I nahahalata
that the Whites there were too quiet
so quiet, unable to speak in front
of that Negro. Only when he left returned

the normalcy in the station—others

read again, neighbors gossiped again,
laughter, the janitor sweeped again.
After a while that Negro passed again

two white Americanas on each arm,

blonde, their beauty with no equal.
The janitor stopped sweeping.
I thought, “So this is racial prejudice.”
Analysis of the poem