Haribol Suralista: October 14, 2012

An Kamunduan kan Pagpaogma kan Sadiri sa Tahaw kan Udto

Posted by Jai Jesus Uy Borlagdan Tuesday, October 16, 2012 comments (0)

An kamot na daing gibo
Isubli kan diyablo.
Ano ngani sabi ni Kagurangnan?
Libog man sana, Arjuna,
Itong minabusol sa sarong tawo
Na gumibo ki mga bagay
dawa habo niya--garo pinuwersa.
Sabi kan lanob:
Kun ano ngonian iyan na kapot mo,
Iyo na an magigi mong puturo.
Magayunon an aldaw,
Tuninong an udto.
Napipiga an kamugtakan mo
Sa bulusan kan banyo.

10-4-2012. Karangahan

Dominga Dakulon Na Muya

Posted by Jai Jesus Uy Borlagdan comments (0)

Dominga dakulon na muya

dai makua kun pa’no maogma.

Muya magpinta kan wara pa su brutsa,

kan yaon na muya naman maggitara.

Huni na su gitara, sayaw naman an muya,

kan nasa itaas na, libong gabos, ta tuminindog na garo istatwa.

Muya magsurat, muya sumakat sa bulod

muya magtana ki awot, umataman ki ulod.

Dawa ano gibuhon, dawa ano ma’woton,

pirmi maulamon an muya abuton.

Dominga dakulon an muya

dai makua kun pa’no maogma.

10-16-12. Karangahan

Sa Dati Mong Kwarto

Posted by Jai Jesus Uy Borlagdan comments (0)

Su dati mong kwarto, TV room na palan. Su dai nakaaram kun ano ini dati, dai maaaraman kun ano ini dati. Su liya-liya mo, nagblend in na sa ba’gong sopa, burakan, terno sa kurtina. Dai na lamang ki nawalat na wara sa lugar. Harain an mga kulor na ini kaitong yaon ka digdi? Hain ining sildang? Kan bisita mo an oras, warang muyang umintra sa hururon na kumposo ki sarong halawigon na hangos. Piniga ka kan paghalat, sagkod sa puro kan paros. An pagwaltak kan kurtina.

Ugaring, haloy na bagang uya sa mata mo an diklom. Ba’go pa an katarata. Gabos man garong matang nagmaan sa kina’ban, garo iyo na an padumanan. Ugaring, sisay man ako buda an sakong mga ispekulasyon? Ano man an aram ko sa diklom, akong daing daghan? Pigduduno an dalan kan siertong ngapit? Ngapit, ngapit. Arog sana talaga kaini garo an sulog na nagbubusol sa lambang yaon na pumasiring sa dai. Sarong pangaturugan na nagkakaskas pag harani na an pagmuklat. Yaon ka pa sana digdi; ngonian wara ka na. Ngapit—ngapit—dawa akong nakakalapag pa an kada lakad sa danay na andar kan ngonian na ti’makan, matunong man, ngapit, sagkod, maabtan kan paabot, buda maging nakaagi.

10-16-12. Karangahan. Kay Lola Coring.

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.