Verses online

Sober summer afternoons have a strange way of draining a writer’s mind. Yes, there are times of illumination and high fever, when voices in the head never seem to stop. But when the high moments and the marvelous (which writers always seek, so says Anais Nin) become commonplace in the lazy summer afternoon sunlight, a writer’s wordspring dries. During these dry days, some wordweavers take to mending shirts, while others prune trees or cut their fingernails. Others, on the other hand, replenish words with words by reading books or through surfing the Internet.

Poetry begets poetry, it is said, and the Internet has a lot of verses in stock. One can read excerpts and selections — or sometimes, whole works — from established lords of the word such as Dylan Thomas, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Allen Ginsberg, Pablo Neruda and Sylvia Plath, to name a few.

Contemporary Filipino poetry have also flourished on the Net with award-winning poets like Karen Kunawicz putting up their own sites. There are other sites, too, that feature modern Philippine literature in English, showcasing works ranging from Manuel Arguelles to Jessica Zafra.

One noteworthy contemporary Filipino poetry site to check out is Dalityapi Unpoemed (www.geocities.com/svillafania), a personal website created by Santiago Villafania, a freelance writer and Web designer who cites Jose Garcia Villa and e. e. cummings as his literary influences. Dalityapi, derived from the words dalit (song) and kudyapi (lyre), simply means lyric song or poetry.

The site, however, is anything but simple. A well-made splash screen graphic greets the visitor on the cover page. At the click of the "enter" icon, however, the systematic derangement of the senses (to borrow Arthur Rimbaud’s definition of poetry) begins. The frameless window is way too cool. The design of each page just... kicks ass (for lack of a more poetic word). Plus, the cool menu icons on the top of the page makes it easy for visitors to navigate through the site.

The thing to check out, though, is the site’s poetry section which showcases some of Villafania’s works. Fragments, which was published in Circle Magazine, is the gem of the section, clearly echoing the Villa influence. Other poems are The Mumbaki, Leaves of Tanka, Of the colours of roses and Sonnet to a pilgrim soul which are left for you to check out and judge.

Makata, on the other hand, is Dalityapi’s online poetry zine which features contributions from Filipino and Fil-Am (and some foreign) poets. The section also includes a three-month archive for visitors to peruse and enjoy.

Another site one can likewise visit is Burning Words (www.angelfire.com/art/syriadee), a personal poetry site created by Daisyree C. Miranda or Syria Dee. Though the site is still raw when it comes to design, its contents are worth looking into. There’s a poetry section, an essay section (which provides glimpses of the author’s life), a storybook section (which features several stories of the writer), a contributors’ section, and others. The site’s plus factor though is its favorite poets’ section which parades works from Pablo Neruda (Tonight I can write, Clenched Soul, If you forget me), Sylvia Plath (Fever 103, Lady Lazarus, Daddy, The Applicant), Anne Sexton (The Last Lie, The Inventory of Goodbye), and Willam Carlos Williams (These), among other poems.