announcements

Dahil tama ang ehemplo ni Ned:


(Updated) Call for Submission: Caracoa 2006

Caracoa, the official literary publication of the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC) and the longest-running journal of poetry in English in Asia, is now accepting submissions for Caracoa 2006.

The return of Caracoa marks the 25th anniversary of the PLAC. It will be the first Caracoa anthology to come out in almost ten years.

There is no specific theme for this issue. Those interested should submit two unpublished poems in English via email (word attachment only) thru caracoa2006@yahoo.com. Deadline for submission is May 15, 2006. Those submitting should include their contact info and a brief bio-data.

Caracoa 2006 will showcase the works of 20 to 25 poets and will be guest edited by Lourd De Veyra and myself along with a group of other poets writing in English. Caracoa 2006 is targeted for publication this coming June (not September as originally posted), and will be the first in what is envisioned to be a semi-annual publication of the journal.

About the PLAC

PLAC or Philippine Literary Arts Council was founded in September 1981 by prominent English-language poets Gémino H. Abad, Cirilo F. Bautista, Alfrredo Navarro Salanga, Ricardo M. de Ungria and Alfred A. Yuson.

The group edited and published Caracoa: The Poetry Journal of the Philippine Literary Arts Council, until it became a regular quarterly by the mid-1980s, with funding and administrative support provided by British businessman and writer Michael Adams.

Intermittent funding led to sporadic release in the 1990s, until the heretofore last issue, Caracoa 96, theme-titled "Heroes & History," which came out in 1996 as part of the start of the Philippine Centennial celebration. It was actually the 27th issue of the poetry journal published within a span of 15 years.

By then PLAC had expanded its membership to include notable fictionists in English, so that its roster of membership read as follows.

Honorary Fellows: Carlos A. Angeles, Franz Arcellana, Tita Lacambra Ayala, Erwin E. Castillo, Ricaredo Demetillo, Ophelia A. Dimalanta, NVM Gonzalez, Edna Z. Manlapaz, Bienvenido N. Santos, Edith L. Tiempo and Emmanuel Torres.

Associate Fellows: Cesar Ruiz Aquino, Juaniyo Arcellana, Ma. Luisa Aguilar B. Cariño, Fidelito C. Cortes, Jose Y. Dalisay Jr., Simeon Dumdum Jr., Marjorie Evasco, Felix Fojas, Eric Gamalinda, Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, Marne Kilates, Susan Lara, Clovis Nazareno, Charlson L. Ong, Danton Remoto, Ramon C. Sunico, Cesare A.X. Syjuco, Ma. Fatima V. Lim-Wilson and Ruel S. de Vera.

The Founding Fellows still comprise the Board of Trustees, with the exception of the late Freddie Salanga.

Outstanding thematic issues of Caracoa have included: Caracoa 1 featuring early works by PLAC's founders; Caracoa 3: Nine Women Poets (October 1983: Isabela Banzon, Bing Caballero, Ma. Fe Rhodora A. Espinosa, Ma. Linda Felipe, Fanny Haydee B. Llego, Priscilla C. Supnet Macansantos, Ma. Annella Manalo, Grace R. Monte de Ramos and Marjorie E. Pernia); Caracoa 4: New Voices (July 1984: Ramon Bautista, Fidelito Cortes, Francis C. Macansantos, Clovis Nazareno, R. Torres Pandan, Victor Jose Peñaranda and Ernesto Superal Yee); Caracoa 5: Sub Versu -- An Anthology of Poetry in Protest (November 1984); Caracoa 6: Eros -- Poems of Love and Desire (February 1985); Caracoa 7: Breaktext -- Poems Dancing on Their Heads (May 1985); Caracoa 8: Genius Loci: Poetry of Place (August 1985); Caracoa 9: Meta -- Of God, Death & Beyond (November 1985); Caracoa 10: R+A+D+I+O (February 1986, featuring the first poetry collection of Ricardo M. de Ungria); Caracoa 11: Coup d'EDSA -- Poems on Freedom (May 1986); Caracoa 15: Ex Patria; Caracoa 17: Women of Letters (January 1988); Caracoa 20: In Memoriam: Alfrredo Navarro Salanga (November 1988); Caracoa 22: GAIA: Versecology -- In Celebration of Earth Day 1990; Caracoa 24: Flipside -- Poems on America (January 1991); and Caracoa 26/95: Gaudeamus (1995: A Collection for the 1990s of New Voices, Award-Winning Poems & Recent Works by Established poets).

The caracoa was a war vessel plying the waters off Mindanao and the Moluccas in the 16th century. The rowers stayed close to the hull, while the warriors stood with their spears on a platform. The poet sat alone at the far end of the boat, manning the rudder. He was neither rower nor warrior, yet he decided where the prow should point. His own thoughts knifed through the immense sea of his solitude, though the waters kept him company.

In him was rower and warrior; he himself was a double-decked vessel of grace
and irony. He was far back, yet he provided direction. At times the caracoa lost its way. No matter. The sea would still be there, and the shoals would still be duly recorded.

(from joel's blog)

***

Poetry Anthology


Poets Against Empire: An Anthology of Contemporary Filipino Poetry in the Age of Globalization is a multi-lingual anthology of contemporary Filipino poems in English and in Filipino vernaculars (Tagalog, Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Bisaya etc. in translation) to be edited by Joi Barrios, Fidelito C. Cortes, and Nerissa Balce. It will focus on the violence and vagaries of globalization including poverty, underemployment, exploitation, forced migration, dislocation, war, and the lived experiences of Filipina/o workers, migrants and the undocumented around the globe. We seek poems that depict Filipino global experiences and realities -- the dreams, desires, fears and nightmares of Filipinos who live in the homeland or those forced to leave it. The collection will feature poems by Filipino writers and poets living in the Philippines or wherever the diaspora has taken them. We welcome contributions from new and established writers, in any of our national or regional languages. While we might consider some previously published works, the editors will give preference to new poems. Submissions should be created as Word documents, sent as JPEG or PDF files. Contributors must send a brief bionote. Poems that will be chosen for publication in the anthology will be announced in 1 October 2006. Deadline for submissions is 1 July 2006. You can e-mail your submissions to desarapen@gmail.com, or send them via snail mail to:

Maria Nerissa S. Balce
Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature
Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
409 Herter Hall161 President's Drive
Amherst, MA 01003-9312

(from ian's blog)


***

Be signing off for a while, folks. Need to recover from the "brilliant" career move I made.

Canine Heartbreak

A Dog Has Died


My dog has died.
I buried him in the garden
next to a rusted old machine.

Some day I'll join him right there,
but now he's gone with his shaggy coat,
his bad manners and his cold nose,
and I, the materialist, who never believed
in any promised heaven in the sky
for any human being,
I believe in a heaven I'll never enter.
Yes, I believe in a heaven for all dogdom
where my dog waits for my arrival
waving his fan-like tail in friendship.

Ai, I'll not speak of sadness here on earth,
of having lost a companion
who was never servile.
His friendship for me, like that of a porcupine
withholding its authority,
was the friendship of a star, aloof,
with no more intimacy than was called for,
with no exaggerations:
he never climbed all over my clothes
filling me full of his hair or his mange,
he never rubbed up against my knee
like other dogs obsessed with sex.

No, my dog used to gaze at me,
paying me the attention I need,
the attention required
to make a vain person like me understand
that, being a dog, he was wasting time,
but, with those eyes so much purer than mine,
he'd keep on gazing at me
with a look that reserved for me alone
all his sweet and shaggy life,
always near me, never troubling me,
and asking nothing.

Ai, how many times have I envied his tail
as we walked together on the shores of the sea
in the lonely winter of Isla Negra
where the wintering birds filled the sky
and my hairy dog was jumping about
full of the voltage of the sea's movement:
my wandering dog, sniffing away
with his golden tail held high,
face to face with the ocean's spray.

Joyful, joyful, joyful,
as only dogs know how to be happy
with only the autonomy
of their shameless spirit.

There are no good-byes for my dog who has died,
and we don't now and never did lie to each other.

So now he's gone and I buried him,
and that's all there is to it.


+for Czarley(r.i.p)+


***

It is worst during midday--how the house would feel strangely empty with the dog gone. I'm all for a "replacement" just for a little relief, but my family doesn't think it's a good idea especially since nasa "mourning period" pa raw. I'm itching to quote Kinnell but I really don't think they will be able to take any wisecrack well right now.

Greeting

"Every day another word/ tugs on my shoulder:/ I don't know if it's/ hello or goodbye." -M. Gipps


***

Just got back and I must say that it was my most surreal Baguio trip so far. Hah. I have to go there again on a real vacation though--but maybe some time after the peak season wears off.

Okay, checklist:

1. Calamansi cheesecake/ frozen key lime pie was as good as I remembered it. I shamelessly ate two in one sitting.

2. Diplomat didn't fail me either; I finally have my own copy of Without Feathers for measly twenty bucks.

3. Didn't have time for market-shopping though. Had to make do with what was outside the hotel for pasalubong. Grrr.


New Finds and Updates:

1. Hotel Veneracion, repository of other surreal memories, has become a Korean Hostel. If I remember it correctly, it was painted an almost lurid shade of pink.

2. Cafe by the Ruins' killer breakfast.

3. Volante's 6" pizza and salad.

4. Acquaintances, friends and something-elses.

***


Dahil kasing-wasak ako ng kantang 'to:


Miss You Love
Silverchair


Millionaire say
Got a big shot deal
And thrown it all away but
But I’m not too sure
How I’m supposed to feel
Or what I’m supposed to say

But I’m not, not sure,
Not too sure how it feels
To handle every day
And I miss you love

Make room for the prey
’cause I’m coming in
With what I wanna say but
It’s gonna hurt
And I love the pain
A breeding ground for hate but...

I’m not, not sure,
Not too sure how it feels
To handle everyday
Like the one that just past
In the crowds of all the people

Remember today
I’ve no respect for you
And I miss you love
And I miss use love

I love the way you love
But I hate the way
I’m supposed to love you back

It’s just a fad
Part of the teenage angst brigade and
I’m not, not sure,
Not too sure how it feels
To handle everyday
Like the one that just past
In the crowds of all the people

Remember today
I’ve no respect for you
And I miss you love
And I miss use love

Remember two days
I’ve no respect for you
And I miss you love
And I miss use love

I love the way you love
But I hate the way
I’m supposed to love you back

***


Hanna and Gabby are home! Yey! Hope we get to watch Ice Age 2 before the week ends. And if we do I also hope we don't get thrown out of the cinema should my niece indulge in incessant babbling, as she can't help but sometimes do when she feels strongly about something.


***

Just a few hours ago:






-=what are you looking at, eh?!=-

















-=wow, jumbo siopao!=-
STEAMIN' HOT SARAP!











-=twinkle, twinkle=-












-=colors cylindric=-

Hiatus!

Finally. A hiatus from the oppressive Manila heat--albeit on official business, and my first ever major assignment at that. Baguio, here I come!:-)

I'll be able to sit in through the remainder of the UP Nat'l Writers Workshop (yey!) as mere observer, which is very fortunate for me since this year has such distinguished fellows. I'm expecting it to be more like peer critique instead of the usual panelist-fellow exchange and the prospect really excites me (admittedly for a few not-so-proper reasons too, hehe).

I just hope I can squeeze in time to indulge the things I adore Baguio for. Like O Mai Khan's calamansi cheesecake (which have been a year-long craving now), book-hunting at Diplomat's or Booksale (where I got my favorite Castaneda book/bible), and market-shopping for pasalubong (which brings back memories of earlier visits spanning from my childhood days to the most recent ones).


Wish me luck!:-)