IntPoWriMo

it's the beginning of the international poetry month (i'd like to think the US has no monopoly on this). can we do it again this year? a poem a day is the idea, but since that's really a herculean task to do individually, maybe we can instead begin an elaborate Renga and contribute a few lines which we can then collate and put together for posting in this blog at the end of each day? for those interested, just put your lines in the comment box and i'll post the full Renga at the end of the day.

so who's with me? :)

*many thanks to Ivy Alvarez and Maureen Thorson who are the original proponents of this project.

"Poems present their testimony as circumstantial evidences, not as closing argument." -- Denise Levertov

Happy Mondays XLIX

featured readers for the 49th installment of the Happy Mondays Poetry Nights tomorrow, March 30 @ mag:net cafe Katipunan re as follows:

1. Angelo Suarez

2. Adam David

3. Leigh Reyes

4. Iñigo de Paula

5. Yol Jamendang

6. Pancho Alvarez

7. Lawrence Bernabe

8. JC Casimiro

9. Pocholo Goitia

10. Carl Clemente

11. Lourd De Veyra

*plus other regular and surprise guest readers.

*readings start promptly at 730 pm followed by the Open Mic sessions @ 930pm-10pm.

*for those interested in reading during the open mic, we will leave a sign-up sheet with Rogel, the bar tender of mag:net cafe. please feel free to sign up and read your work. :)

10pm onwards, Happy Mondays BayaWazakZoundz courtesy of:

1. Johnoy Danao

2. Spastic Children (featuring Lourd De Veyra vs. Jay Gapasin)

3. Valet Parking

FREE ADMISSION the whole evening! Kitakits po tayo. :)

***

photos below from the second year anniversary of the readings last March 16

Apo Lakay

"Who is your grandfather to you?" - Pancho Villanueva

He taught me about stillness. One afternoon when I was five, he embraced me all throughout my parents' worst fight. Years later at the onset of Parkinson's, he called out for me all afternoon. I sat by him and talked about my day. I wondered if his hardened body could still comprehend tenderness. As when reason fails us, that is all we can strive for. He accomplished much in his ninety-six years. Got four orphaned brothers through school, and the war. Winning over Grandma, which is no easy feat. Becoming a man of the Law. Some time ago I promised myself I'd live by his example, but so far I haven't done much. I can only hold on to those short hours when I was certain we came from the same place. Wonder if I will end the same way. Surrounded by love, and grief, and greatfulness. I watched his embalming and noticed how they had to force his knees to lie straight down. I remember his empty face and mine full of tears. I remember his faint gravel voice mumbling my name, as though it were something important he had forgotten. I remember his cold hands and my arms around him. I remember his quiet demeanor and from where I got mine.

Hunger Strike: A '90s Alternative Music Tribute

reliving the glory daze of the '90s rock and alternative music scene. from the college anthems of the Gin Blossoms, The Lemonheads, and Ash to the Seattle grunge movement of Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam. we'll even include rare one-hit wonders and, well, a little bit of Bush.

tomorrow, march 27, Friday, 9pm onwards. an all-cover night of '90s pop ditties and rarities. featuring:

1. Patience, Dear Juggernaut

2. Virgin Hunters

3. Broken Sauce

4. Shotgun Lola

5. Fat Acid Drop

6. Dissent

Entrance P150 (P50 consumable).

kitakits!

Earth and Sky

The Sunsets of Joel

We see a church from afar
and a bell, tolling the meek
into recollection, announcing

the hour. A plant grows
stedily by the sill with
a little care and some light.

And I wonder what it would
dream of, if it could dream.
Distance is paraphrased into

the strange formations of clouds,
none of them ever the same.
And while my friend begins playing

an old song, I forget why I am
heavy with loss. It must be the view
from that window. It must be

the weak red arcs of heat that
reach me and form soft-edged
tiles of sunlight in the room.

Wherever we are, we are home
at the end of the day. Each end
something good and old, announcing

that it is time you stare out into that great
dome, its billion feathers wiping blue away,
transcending body, lifting up the night.

-Waps

Harvest

Every day, come summer, I fear for
the limitations of our two-toned seasons

and for my garden. And I hate leaving
the house for vacations. Because

the equation is simple enough:
the tragedy of wailing afternoons

filled with fire trucks and heated
news about weather, or wilting

flowers. These tropical depressions,
they attend to the greenhouse

like a crowded congregation
waiting for glorious homilies,

that assuring voice of the pastor
who loves greenery and God

yet offering nothing more than
coming months of restless clouds

finally obeying, some holy water
for cleansing, or warm wine. Also,

another garden teeming with
just the right amount of rain-

fallen apples: fiery red, fresh,
and sinless come harvest time.

-Joel

The Maningning Miclat Awards 2009

The Maningning Miclat Art Foundation is calling on young poets aged 28 and below to submit entries to the 2009 Maningning Miclat Trilingual Poetry Competition in three divisions: Filipino, English and Chinese.

An entry must have at least eight but not more than 15 poems. Authors may join all the divisions but can submit only one entry in each division. All entries should be original in any of the three languages and not a translation of another entry.

Four copies should be submitted, with the poems printed double-spaced on regular bond paper with one-inch margins on all sides, using Arial or Times New Roman size-12 font. Only a pen name must be printed on an entry, with the real name and pen name submitted in a separate sealed envelope together with the entrant’s biodata, birth certificate copy, and a notarized declaration of originality and authenticity of authorship.

Entries must be addressed to the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation, Inc. (MMAFI), 2nd Floor, Mile Long Building, Amorsolo St., Legaspi Village, Makati City (Tel No. 816-7490 to 91) not later than 5:00 p.m. of April 15, 2009. Entries sent by mail should be postmarked/invoiced not later than April 1, 2009.

The Maningning Award, handed out yearly since 2003, honors China-born Maningning Miclat, a poet in three languages, a published essayist, and a prizewinning visual artist who was also a teacher, translator and interpreter. Her collection Voice from the Underworld (Anvil Publishing, Inc., 2000) is the first book of poetry in the world in Filipino, English and Chinese written solely by one author. Some of her poems were included in a book of top international women poets in Chinese published in China. She passed away in September 2000.

The Maningning Miclat Art Foundation was formed in 2001 to carry on the artist/poet’s legacy, encourage creativity, and support outstanding young poets and artists. The trilingual poetry competition is held during odd-numbered years, while the painting competition is held during even-numbered years.

Grand winners in the divisions of the Poetry Competition will each receive P28,000 together with a Julie Lluch trophy and the special collector’s edition of the books Voice from the Underworld, Beauty for Ashes: Remembering Maningning and Beyond the Great Wall: A Family Journal, which won a 2006 National Book Award for biography.

Past winners of the Maningning Poetry Awards are Naya Valdellon and Joselito delos Reyes in 2003; Allan Pastrana, Joseph Saguid and Ye Cai-sheng in 2005; and Raymond John de Borja, Erica Clariz delos Reyes and Chen Si-yuan in 2007.

For more information on the 2009 Maningning Miclat Art Competition, e-mail maningningfoundation@gmail.com or amiclat2008@yahoo.com. You may also log in to www.maningning.com.

Happy Mondays XLVIII: The 2nd Year Anniversary Edition

featured readers for TONIGHT's 48th, SECOND YEAR ANNIVERSARY installment of the long-running, bi-weekly Happy Mondays Poetry Nights @ mag:net cafe Katipunan Katipunan are as follows:

1. J. Neil Garcia
2. Aldus Santos
3. Marne Kilates
4. Arnold Molina Azurin
5. Larry Ypil
6. Adam David
7. Jonar Sabilano
8. Jimmy Abad
9. Gabe Mercado
10. Ramil Gulle
11. Vim Nadera
12. Krip Yuson
13. Kash Avena
14. Lourd De Veyra
15. Jun Cruz Reyes
16. Keith Cortez
17. Pancho Villanueva
18. Angelo Suarez
19. Inigo De Paula
20. Leigh Reyes
21. Mikael Co
22. Joseph Saguid
23. Sasha Martinez
24. Rafael San Diego

*plus other surprise guest readers.

*as there would be a lot of readers celebrating with us tonight, kindly be in magnet cafe by 7 so we can start promptly at 730 pm.

Happy Mondays Bayawazakzoundz for the evening courtesy of:

1. Los Chupacabras!
2. The Purple Chickens!

FREE ADMISSION this whole, celebratory evening! Kitakits po tayo. :)