So NaDuterte

Today, in my country of birth, the current president appears before the lawmakers of the land, and before the entire nation. This is the same president who vowed to defend and protect the citizens of the country and adhere to the constitution. This is the same president who, soon as he took to power, violated the most basic rights of the poor and defenseless.
Today he speaks as if he were the hero of the land. Each of us, in our own minds, try to be the hero we dream of. Duterte’s greatest hero, as he has declared and proven by his actions many times over, is the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos who silenced critics by sending them to prison, if not to the grave.
Duterte’s so-called war on drugs, in a mere three years, has gone way beyond what Marcos himself managed to do.
I wrote the following poem last year as a first draft. The second draft did away with all that is so blatant in the piece and, in a way, turned out to be a better poem. But it didn’t retain the anger and condemnation I wanted to convey. That poem is due to appear in a South African journal, the New Coin.
Today, as I cannot join any of the protest rallies in my country of birth, I decided to share this poem here, and perhaps on my Facebook author account.

We Cannot Allow the Dead to be Silenced

The man who curses shall be cursed
to live forever in the stories we shall tell
our children. They will not fear him
or his twisted reincarnations.

Our children shall not be shaken
by his threats. His attack dogs
with teeth of bullets cannot make us
turn away and flee.

Though the dead may be left
unclaimed in morgues
or dumped on the side of the road,
their faces bound with packaging tape,

they will never be silenced.
The veins on their exposed necks
and stiffened arms will turn to roots.
And we who fight to remember

the cruelty inflicted upon those
we can no longer hold shall bear
bitter fruit to be shoved
down the tyrant’s throat.

-o-

The title of this post may look odd to those who are not familiar with the play on words Filipinos like to employ by borrowing from another language. A rough translation would be – aside from SONA (State of the Nation Address) – “Done in by Duterte.”

https://www.rappler.com/nation/updates-duterte-state-of-the-nation-address-july-2019

https://www.rappler.com/move-ph/235870-groups-hit-duterte-admin-performance-ahead-sona-2019

People Who Live with Lions may roar once again

I wrote a poem a few years ago and it took a while for it to get published. But then soon after first publication in New Coin it was picked up by SA-born Denis Hirson and was luckily included in the original French edition of contemporary South African poetry which he edited and published in France. A subsequent English edition was released last year by Deep South Books which was co-edited by Robert Berold who is a great supporter of new voices in the country. This month, “People Who Live with Lions” has a chance of being read by an even bigger audience at the Goodreads.com Poetry! newsletter competition. if you are interested, here is the link to the contest:

NOVEMBER 2015 NEWSLETTER

Neither Here nor There, but Definitely Somewhere

Doors close, doors open.

I sent an entry very late for this prestigious South African poetry competition, the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award, but was lucky enough to be included in the “longlist” which means my poems now have a place in the anthology. They didn’t quite make it to the finals, let alone the “shortlist.” Hmmm… all these lists. 🙂

But who am I to complain? I’ve never gotten any award for my writing until this year with the DALRO. Before this, the only other claim to recognition I had was when my book, Baha-bahagdang Karupukan, was a finalist at the National Book Awards in the Philippines. I am always thankful for any chance to share my work with readers, and any recognition such as these are just extra ego boost. Something to make you feel better when there is so little else to be happy about.

The three poems in the anthology are rather new. They are part of a nine-poem cycle called “Endings are Beginnings” which is the closing section for one of the manuscripts I am still working on. My copy of the anthology hasn’t arrived, so this image is straight out of the Jacana website.

Congratulations to Kobus Moolman who won First Prize, and to Vonani Bila (editor for New Coin!) and Nedine Moonsamy who won Second and Third respectively!

Maybe next year I’ll get up one rung higher. hahahaha. Ever hopeful. 🙂  Then perhaps a book deal from a South African publisher… keep dreaming. I will have to keep on making noise then.

My Poems Greet Readers First!

The slightly delayed release of New Coin’s first issue for 2013 finally arrived in my postbox the other day and I was ecstatic to see my poems featured so prominently. 🙂  No, it wasn’t just because my surname starts with “A” – I had that thought for a moment, too, upon opening the journal.

Here is a link about the current editor and what he says of the issue: Vonani Bila.

Subscribe to NEW COIN. Why? Because you get to read amazing poetry from South Africa! I’ve been informed that my work has also been accepted for the December 2013 issue… (Jim does a silly dance). This means I have better chances of winning the DALRO Award again hahahaha – yeah, keep wishing, Jim!

Here’s one of my poems in the June 2013 issue… one of four poems.

Subscribe and you get to read all four and a whole lot of other great poetry from South Africa! More great news to come in the next few days/weeks, so please keep visiting this little blog. Better yet, make me happy and consider purchasing my books from UST PUBLISHING HOUSE:

Sound Before Water

Alien to Any Skin

Baha-bahagdang Karupukan (shortlisted for the National Book Award)

and forthcoming … Kalmot ng Pusa sa Tagiliran

… end of self-promotion. Please move toward the EXIT in an orderly fashion. 😛

Now I can Share This News: The DALRO New Coin Prize

This news came as a welcome surprise after many years of writing and trying to put my work out there. Despite having published five books of poetry, and a sixth on its way to the printers hopefully before the end of October 2013, I have never really won a major award in my country of birth for this art. The closest one was when my book of poetry in Filipino, Baha-bahagdang Karupukan, was shortlisted for the National Book Award.

Last month I received an email informing me that I had won some prize I’d never even heard of, for a poem that, until then, I didn’t know had been accepted for publication back in 2012. I remember sending a few poems to New Coin late in 2011, but since I never heard from the editor, let alone saw a copy of the issue, I had simply forgotten about it. That poem, “Village Potter’s Wife,” found a home in my collection Alien to Any Skin.

Bjork’s song “All is Full of Love” insists on keeping a sense of hope that someone worth sharing what you have to offer will one day come around. Maybe you’re just not looking in the right direction.

The big news then, which came days before another milestone for me (that’s another story for another post), can now be shared.

DALRO New Coin prize winners announced

The winners of the DALRO New Coin Prize, awarded for the best poems that appeared in the literary journal New Coin, have been announced. Genna Gardini took first prize with her poem “The Pot”, while Jim Pascual Agustin’s “Village Potter’s Wife” came second and Megan Tennant’s “On a June day that I spent on the beach with two children” was awarded third prize.

LINK TO COMPLETE PRESS RELEASE WITH POEMS 

 

UPDATE…

Colleen Higgs was the judge and had this to say:

“Village Potter’s Wife” is a short, striking poem, full of painful contrasts. At the heart of the poem is the joyful creation of pots, measured against death, destruction, grinding poverty. The poet manages to say a great deal about the life of this woman in three quick brush strokes, and to evoke deep sorrow and loss in this reader.