Davey Ross Musong
When I think of poetry, I think of a precious gem,
Teasing me from a place so high and too far for me to reach.
It's an uphill climb,
A foggy mountain top
Which chokes me as I raise a foot
And move towards it.
Veins in my eyes get visibly bold,
Glowing like neon lights in downtown whorehouses
And on otherwise dark alleys with dancing and flying candy wrappers,
Flattened cigarette butts,
Corners that reek of the smell of old and dried urine.
Places, I think, you'd cringe even at the thought of visiting alone.
And those veins, they're lights that grow bigger and bigger
And then burst.
Blood splatters
And flows like lava from the angry volcanoes
which are my eyes,
I'm blinded.
I can't see my paper
Nor feel the presence of my pen.
It's an uphill climb
Every word, seems to give more strength
To that hand that pulls me down
Tightens it's grip in every attempt to conceive
A line that contains both truth and beauty at the same time.
I haven't gone that far
'Cause I am being pulled down.
My own shadow, my past, pulling me down
As if preparing me to drown
And die from that quicksand below
Where my doubts, my feeling of hatred towards myself
Are calling me, asking me
Begging me to join them in their misery
After I buried them deep on the ground
Not too long ago.
Quicksand, tomb of my past.
It's filled with thumb- sucking, jack-stones, magazines under the bed, used rubbers,
Crucifixes hidden in the drawer, dusty, untouched rosaries, dried tears on my pillows
Forming dead shadows of that world that exists only in my dreams.
I am being pulled down, blinded and out of breath
My hands, shaking
My feet, groping the floor for the pen
And where it went, after it fell, I don't, anymore, know
So here I am together with the sound of the crickets
And spirits that watch me from afar
Making sounds that seem to celebrate my failure
Snickering at the thought that the art of poetry
Remains distant to me.
I give up.
I can't touch it.
It's a mountain I can't climb.
Rey Carlo Sajulan
The Taboan 2012 Satellite Activity-Central Visayas in cooperation with Holy Name University and The WORD, the university’s official student publication, held a literary workshop called Taboan: Philippine Writers Festival which was attended by the members of Mamanghagay Resurrected. The members who graced the event were Ms. Everjoy Lynn Moreno, former Managing Editor of The WORD and presently a Law student; Mrs. Athena Garcia-Vitor, former Literary Editor; Call Center Employee Davey Ross Musong, former News Editor; and former Editor-in-Chief, Sem. Rey Carlo Sajulan. The workshop was held at the HNU-HS Multimedia Center last February 24, 2012. Literary enthusiasts from other schools in the Tagbilaran City were also participated in the said event.
The said event was an umbrella activity sponsored by the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA). It was a whole-day activity graced by the following speakers: Ms. Haidee Emmie K. Palapar, coordinator for NCCA-Central Visayas; Jeremiah Bondoc, President of the BATHALAD Cebu who spoke about the state of Cebuano Literature; Prof. Merlie Alunan, professor emeritus of the University of the Philippines-Tacloban; and a few of our distinguished Boholano writers and poets.
The speakers tackled on the state of Visayan Literature with subtopics on literature in Cebu, Dumaguete and Bohol. The importance of writing in the Cebuano language was upheld and the need for it to be renewed and promoted once more in young, budding writers. The speakers underlay the importance of recent cultural renaissance which the province of Bohol is currently taking and that local writers writing in the local language should be all the more encouraged to showcase their talent.
Mrs. Rosalina Rara-Sarabosing, project coordinator of the said workshop together with the WORDians hosted the event and Mr. Marianito Luspo, Director of the Office of Culture and Arts Development of HNU also gave the opening and closing remarks.
After the workshop, a poetry recital was held which the members of the Mamanghagay Resurrected opted not to attend. Ms. Moreno proceeded to her Law classes while Mrs. Vitor, Mr./ Ms. Musong and Mr. Sajulan proceeded to Bo’s Coffee to officially discuss the organization Mamanghagay Resurrected and its role in the revival of literary output in our present society.
Athena Garcia
A dew drops into a pool that litters a forest floor.
A ray of sunshine glitters in the waters.
The leaves shiver before it shakes away the cold.
A flower blooms, ants mind their business
and a bee passes by, then came a butterfly.
A little girl comes with a basket to fill with berries
but she lies down on the moss-covered ground
to dream of fairies.
Her mother calls from the edge of the woods.
The fairies fled and their songs faded;
The light went dim.
The ants went on their business.
A bee and a butterfly were nearby
but there were no fairies
and the basket was empty of berries.
