Mouthing the word

The milestone of an integrated literary and visual arts exhibit, "Chromatext Reloaded," which has been on display at the CCP’s Main Gallery since its ebullient opening on Jan. 25, comes to a rip-roaring close tomorrow night with a session of performed poetry billed as "Word of Mouth."

Sponsored by the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC) and organized by exhibit co-curator Jean Marie Syjuco, the closing event starts at 6:30 p.m. It will consist of readings and performances by PLAC & Friends, the same spontaneously combusting association that put together the well-received Chromatext edition.

"Word of Mouth" features a sterling assembly of seasoned literary performance artists, poets and musicians led by PLAC members Jimmy Abad, Cesare A.X. Syjuco, RayVi Sunico, Marne Kilates, and yours truly.

Joining us are fellow poets and writer-painters Gilda Cordero Fernando, Marivic Rufino, Joel Toledo, Carlomar Arcangel Daoana and Angelo Suarez, along with a dynamic mix of multi-media artists, young musicians and spoken word ensembles.

The performers include the prizewinning playwright and theater artist Frank Rivera, painters Rock Drilon, Alan Rivera and Danny Sillada, singer-composer Nityalila Sauro, conceptual and installation artist Raul Funilas, and spoken word/slam jam performers G.P. Abrajano, Siege Malvar, Trix Syjuco, Jevijoe Vitug, Yanna Verbo Acosta, Lorina Javier and Ria Muñoz.

Performing coteries count the fast-rising underground hip-hop collective AMPON (which released a best-selling CD album late last year, "Dekoding Rhythm"); Vim Nadera & Friends; Maxine Syjuco & Utakan; When Wor(l)ds Collide (with Twinkle, Gino, Otto, and Happy Ferraren); Controlled Chaos (with Ronaldo Ruiz & The Tupada Core); Lirio Salvador & Elemento; Ida, Kookie & Viva; and Mitch Garcia & Ian Madrigal.

Guests are enjoined to come early to appreciate the exhibit a first or second/last time. "Chromatext" Reloaded includes works by over 80 poets, writers and visual artists, including National Artists Napoleon Abueva, Edith L. Tiempo, Virgilio S. Almario, and Benedicto Cabrera or Bencab.



We’ve been congratulating triumphant poets almost every week now. Prizes galore have been a boon for numerous Filipino poets in English, just as much as they’ve been for Fil-Am poets.

Our latest poetry contest winner is Jean Vengua, per an announcement posted late last week by Meritage Press of San Francisco. She’s received the Filamore Tabios, Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize for her manuscript titled "Prau." A $1,000 prize accompanies the award, and the winning work is due for publication by Meritage Press (www.meritagepress.com) by autumn this year.

Instituted by Meritage Press and poet-editor Eileen R. Tabios in honor of her late father, the prize is being awarded for the first time. Submissions were reportedly screened by Ms. Tabios herself, and the finalists were passed on to her mother, Beatriz Tabios. All entries were reviewed on an anonymous basis to ensure that the shortlist selection and final judging would be based solely on the merits of the poems.

Eileen writes: "We are pleased to present some samples from Jean Vengua’s winning manuscript ‘Prau,’ and hope you will remember her entire book — as it turns out, her debut poetry book — when it is released later in 2007. (If formats get lost by e-mail, you can see her poems at http://www.meritagepress.com/ babaylan/)

"We would like to thank the poets who participated in this contest. We read many wonderful poems by other participants. In particular, we would like to acknowledge the finalist and second place winner Edgar B. Maranan (Quezon City) for the lovely lyricism and imagery displayed in his manuscript, Star Maps & Other Poems." (N.B. Our friend Ed Maranan is currently back in London, packing up his stuff for the final time before he returns to MetroManila and his Baguio hometown.)

Jean Vengua lives in Santa Cruz, California. She teaches at Gavilan College and also works as a content editor for McGraw-Hill Publishing. Her poetry has gained inclusion in numerous print and online journals and anthologies, including Going Home to a Landscape, Babaylan, Proliferation, Returning a Borrowed Tongue, Moria and Otoliths. Her essays, articles and reviews on literature and music have been published in Jouvert, Geopolitics of the Visual (from Ateneo de Manila University Press), Pinoy Poetics, the e-zine Our Own Voice, and CultureCatch.com.

Checking out the sampler of five brief poems sent along by Eileen, I see how Vengua’s poetry made a distinct impression. Three of them are prose poems, one of which I must share for your delectation.

Note how even the matter of applying italics can heighten a poem, especially one that is hard-edged and which takes abrupt, surprising turns of thought and imagery. I like it so much that I intend to read it at the "Word of Mouth" affair at CCP tomorrow. It’s somewhat appropriate for the start of another zany election campaign season, since it’s titled "Turncoat."

"position the bird in a side pocket or put it to sleep in poetry. step right up to the shining path. a broken column is pinned to the collar bone, pillar to support her head. she paints a portrait, enlarges upon puddles hidden behind creative writing, drips tears onto a palette, rips open her camisa de dormir. there are two fine breasts cleaved up the middle, and crowning the brow a hairy sliver of moon. the bees are joined in marriage behind literature, european. i kiss your hand, madelaine. i eat your cookies. she unstraps her camisa de fuerza. el corazon beats between science and the mystery of moths and myths. there is cooking for my mother’s rosary, juvenile for our apocalypse. choose your color, advance one square, retreat six. cambiarse la camisa is to change categories. in fiction, one must cross two rivers, being careful to avoid the black holes, center stage. fall forever into universe, tell a story, make place."

Bravo, Jean Vengua.

Hearty congratulations, too, to Living Asia Channel on its third anniversary yesterday.

Great to realize that it’s been all of three years since CCI Asia — chaired by the formidable Emily Altomonte Abrera (who also chairs the CCP or Cultural of the Philippines) and manned by the same spirited guys who pioneered with Lakbay TV — set voyage on an Asian satellite footprint to convey travel images and experiences in the Philippines to a substantial regional market.

But it’s not only been our islands that CCI Asia has been featuring, rather all of those cultural intersections of discovery involving SouthEast Asia. For instance, a feature on Langkawi in Malaysia will soon air on Living Asia (Channel 99 on the Sky Cable network), with Nyx Martinez as writer/presenter.

Due for a launch is a blog called The Pond, with the Koi as Living Asia Channel’s mascot. Bumper stickers will also be delivered to travel enthusiasts who send in self-addressed stamped envelopes. Initially, the promo is only good for Metro Manila residents. Address the SASE to CCI Asia, Mezzanine, LPL Mansions, 122 LP Leviste St., Salcedo Village, Makati 1227.