Haribol Suralista: April 29, 2012

KARMABAL

Posted by Jai Jesus Uy Borlagdan Tuesday, May 01, 2012 comments (0)

Sarong makulor, maogmang kinaban. Nakasurat sa karatula. Sa tahaw kan urulukan, garasudan, buda ringsal, sarong aki an napatunong. Garo baga may uminaging maitumon na dampog sa hutok niyang sarong malinawon na aldaw, pano ki lobo, lapat-lapat buda tugtog kan tsubibo. Sa pandok niya an gira kan kigkig kan sarong namungaw-mungawan pakatapos ki sarong hararom, halawig na nanok. Napakalat-kalat siya, sa saiyang mga pag-iriba, sa pakaduruop kaini sa hampang kan saindang pigkakasibutan na kawat, arat, aling, linga. May dai siya masabutan. Naaraman niya sa hudyan na igwa siyang dai makua. Igwang wara. Sagkod sa an pagkiling-kiling niya buda pagkalag-kalag wara na man talagang pighahanap kundi sarong mekanikal na reaksiyon sa nangyayaring paghalukay niya kan saiyang hutok sa pagpuntok kun ano su kaipuhan niyang makua. Baad aram kan iba kun ano ito. Kaya tinikwil niya su saiyang kataning na kasubago pa pighihingowang palusuton an mga bulawan na singsing sa sarong poste. Ugaring mala uguton ini sa pag-igo buda pagpalaog, dai lamang siya kaini pigti’no. Kadungan kan nganang kama’wotan na maaraman buda masayumahan, nagpupuon nang magpiot an saiyang hinangos sa pagkaskas kan saiyang puso. Tuminindog siya buda rinani su iba pang aki na yaon duman. Ugaring arog kan naenot, gabos an mga ini sibot buda nakatutok na garo nalumay na mga gadan. Wara ki nagdadangog saiya; saro pa, wara ki nakakadangog o nakakahiling saiya sa kusog kan tugtog buda sa gayon kan mga malaadon na kulor. Duman suminupang an malaenon na pagmating dai na siya angay sa lugar na ini. Dangan niya narumduman na dai niya man baga kaipuhan na tioson an pagkayaon niya digdi, ta nagdigdi man sana siya pwede siya humali. Buot sabihon igwa siyang hinalean ba’go siya nakadigdi na pwede niya bultahan. Dawa su apod nakabalik saiya: sarong ulian. Sa ulian, an dahilan kan saiyang pagha’dit buda paghidaw: an saiyang mga magurang. Sa pakarumdom, narugba su saiyang daghan sa kaskas kan nagdurungan na kamunduan, paghidaw buda sarong dai mapaliwanag na ugma, katalingkasan sa kahaputan, kasimbagan! An sinagkudan, dai na siyang naginibo kundi dumurudalagan patalibong ki patalibong sa maogmang kinaban ki mga pintadong ulok, naghihibi, naggagasod, nag-aapod: Mama! Papa! Mama! Papa! Papa, papa! Mama, mama!

Udto

Posted by Jai Jesus Uy Borlagdan Sunday, April 29, 2012 comments (0)

Hanap su huyop

inagi ko sa taghoy
an alingahot buda babloy.
Tulong padis na singit
kan mga durudaragitang
nagsusurop ki sopdrink
an sakong nakilingan.
Tulos su saro nakamangno
insigida de kwatro
tangad man ako
sagin dai ituyo
sa langit na halos dagat
nasilag ko su paros
sa binanderang buradol
biyo nagsusulog an ikog.

Abril 28, 2012. Karangahan.

Mala Trip

Posted by Jai Jesus Uy Borlagdan comments (0)

Mala sa trip, latak an ipapamahawan ki Burnok

kan ama niyang si Tor na janitor sa sarong kumpanya,

na nasisirni pirmi ni Louie na sekyu kan Power Trip agency,

na mala bultok kasubanggi, ikinit kan layonesa kan HR na si Miss Amy,

na para timplang kape kan bantog na si Sir Joey an kagurangnan sa salog kinse,

na nagiging Jose, na dai makabaring kamote, pag itabuga kan Presidente Kadsadiri,

na minakilpis na gari binabaying ogis pag idulak kan Donya Muslak niyang misis,

na oripon, suruguon, kiko-kikong magaruon kan ugbon niyang si Tyrone

na sa eskwelahan, latak an isnakan hali ki Burnok pag ini natitripan.

Abril 28, 2012

Mga Presyo

Posted by Jai Jesus Uy Borlagdan comments (0)

Mala sa pisong (P1.00) suka
nilaoglaog su aki kan ama.

Minudamuda kan amo su katabang
sa kinyentoson (P500.00) na vase na napasa.

Magtugang dai nagti'nuhan sagkod kagadanan
sa manang five hundred thousand (P500,000.00)

Mag padehon sa kandila nag-ulian
sa san ribong (P1000.00) utang.

Nagbadilan sa tinampo
kan nagasgasan su two million (P2,000,000.00) na awto.

Rinaotan su katrabaho
sa san ribong (P1000.00) dagdag sa sweldo.

Daraga, nagpakayo sa maestro
para sa traynta milon (P30,000.00) na telepono.

Sa hitman na beterano
presyo kan tawo anom na sero (000,000.00)

Mamira an kaogmahan?
Depende sa tindahan.

Otso mil (P8,000.00) igwa ka nang ayam-ayam
mag taga dila kan lugad mo sa daghan.

Sanggatos (P100.00) igwa ka nang bayi
pag daing laog an banggi.

Sarong milyon, duwang milyon, tulo
pwedeng magluha ka na sa ogma mo.

Dulo na kun sa yaman yaon na sa pirak an pandok mo
ika na garo an pinakamaogmang tawo.

On Borlagdan's Poetry

A Rush of Metaphors, Tremor of Cadences, and Sad Subversions
By Tito Genova Valiente
titovaliente@yahoo.com

The first time I read the poems of Jesus Jaime Borlagdan, Jimple to those who know him, I felt immediately the seething movement of the words. There was a rush of metaphors in his works. I immediately liked the feeling that the rhythm caused in one’s reading for poetry, in my book, should always be read aloud. I was hearing the voice. It was a voice that happened to sound from afar and it was struggling to link up with a present that would not easily appear.

It was heartbreaking to feel the form. I felt the lines constricting. I saw the phrases dangling to tease, breaking the code of straight talk and inverting them to seduce the mind to think beyond the words. Somewhere, the poems were reverting back to direct sentences, weakening the art of poetry with its universe of ellipses and nuances, but then as suddenly as the words lightened up, the poems then dipped back into a silent retreat, into a cave, to lick its own wounds from the confrontation that it dared to initiate.

For this column, I decide to share parts of the longer paper I am writing about this poet.

In Karangahan, the poet begins with: Bulebard, ikang muymuyon na salog/ki gatas buda patenteng nakahungko,/ako ngonian kahurona. Borlagdan translates this into:Boulevard, you forlorn river/ of milk and downcast lights/ speak to me now. Savor the translation, for in Bikol that which is a dialog has become an entreaty.)

The poet is always talking to someone but in An istorya ninda, an osipon ta, he talks about a the fruits of some narrative: Ta sa dara nindang korona kita an hadi/ sa krus, kita su may nakatadok na espada./Naitaram na ninda an saindang istorya./Punan ta na man su satong osipon./This I translate as: For in the crown they bear we are the King/ on the cross, with the embedded sword./ Marvel at this construction, as the poet cuts at the word “hadi” and begins the next line with “krus” and the “espada.” Marvel, too, at how he looks at conversion and faith, a process that made us special but also wounded us with ourselves stuck with the sword.

Finally, the poet says those lines of the true believer: They have already spoken their story, now let us begin with our tale. The poet does not have a translation but will the istorya in this line be “history” and osipon be “myth.” Shall these last four lines in the first stanza be both a subversion of our faith embedded in a foreign culture or a celebration of what we are not, and what we have not become?
Puni na an paghidaw. Puni na an pagluwas/hali sa kwartong pano ki luha, puni na/an paghiling sa luwas kan bintana./Puni na an paghidaw para sa binayaan./Puni na an pagsulit sa daluging tinimakan./Puni na an paghidaw sa mga sinugbang utoban. Terrifying lines as the poet calls us to begin the remembering and also begin the moving out from the room full of tears. In the poet’s mind, the lacrimarum vale or valley of tears had become an intimate area for instigating his own release.

The rhythm is there as in a prayer. But it is no prayer. There is the repetition but it is not a plea. There is the self but it is one that has turned away from itself into something else. That self is one that shall face the recollection of the faith that has been burned.

And yet the poet, resolute when he wants to, loves to sing and hint of fear and anxiety. Even when he is merely observing children playing in the rains, he summons images of terrible beauty. The skies become diklom na pinandon na “may luho” (with hole). From this hole, comes the sarong pisi ki sildang/ tisuhon na buminulos. The poet stays with this metaphor with such intensity that the silken thread coming from the hole justifiably becomes luhang garo hipidon na busay/paluwas sa mata/kan dagom. Dark wit and a penchant for the horrifying are tandem graces in these lines.

This is the poet who can, without self-consciousness, tell us of the …haya/kan mga ayam na namimibi/nakakapabuskad ki barahibo/nakakaulakit ki lungsi. He whispers of “halas na rimuranon, malamti/sa hapiyap kan mga bituon.”
This is a startling universe, where dogs pray (and bay), and where fears bloom and paleness afflicts and infects, and serpents are caressed by the stars.