Poetry in Makati, paintings in Dubai

Within a memorable week, a couple of scintillating poetry reading events took place in Makati starting in mid-March.

On the very Ides or the 15th, Alliance Française de Manille staged the 14th “Printemps des Poetes” or Spring of Poets grand reading in its elegant building at 209 Nicanor Garcia St. (formerly Reposo). Suffice it to say that this landmark has become so familiar not only to Filipino students of the French language and other Francophiles, but also to our artists, musicians and music aficionados, film enthusiasts, poets and writers and lovers of literature.

Thanks to the current leadership of AFM — with Deanna Ongpin Recto as president of the board of trustees and Mickaël Balcon as deputy director — the “Printemps des Poetes” has become a much-anticipated annual gathering of poets and poetry readers. It’s become so popular that this year, the call for participation received such enthusiastic response that Deanna and Mickaël had to factor in the length of the proposed poems to arrive at a selection.

Of course there was also the given theme for adherence: “Enfances” or “Childhood & Beginnings.” The organizers proposed thus:

“We invite you to consider what words poets are inspired to use when writing about beginnings, about learning of the world between wounds and wonders, between appetite for life and fighting against the ‘brutal reality’; how their works can also be a remembrance of first relations, free and creative, with the language.

“Moreover, this will be the opportunity to bring into the limelight poetry that considers children as its initial, if not exclusive, readers. It can also simply be deemed ‘Poetry for children,’ whose form, having avoided evolution and all modification for the sake of instruction, has been deeply renewed over the course of these last few decades.”

The 27 readers that made up the roster were, in the order of reading: John Gabriel L. Ibay (a young boy who read a poem by Apolinario Macalintal); athletic trainer and magazine editor Asha Macam; Vim Nadera with yet another intriguing performance poem that had him going down on his knees before the front row of special guests, thence “fishing” for the footwear of the AFM president, ha-ha; André Rioult reading a poem by Saint-John Perse; Atty. Noel “Boyet” del Prado of AdMU and the MTRCB; Yanna Verbo Acosta also with a performance poem that included music; Marra PL Lanot; Pete Lacaba; AFM board director Markus Ruckstuhl reading a prose poem by Michel Layaz; Philippines Graphic magazine editor-in-chief Joel Salud; children’s book publisher and pre-eminent poet Ramon “RayVi” Sunico; Krip Yuson; educator Christine Joy O. Castillo; LIRA poetry fellow and photographer Ritchen Sarigumba; mnemonics expert Jimmy Abad; retired Ambassador, actor and singer Jaime Yambao; poetry author Rosa Maria Magno; poet/multimedia artist/beauty queen Maxine Syjuco; painter Marivic Rufino and premier poet Marne KIlates reading a poem by National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario (with poetry e-zine editor Marne also reading a poem of his); poet/painter/progenitor Cesare A.X. Syjuco; Graphic literary editor and accomplished cook Alma Anonas Carpio; AdMU graduate and well-anthologized poet Anne Carly Abad; poetry author Victor Jose “Bimboy” Peñaranda; magazine editor Ana Gamboa; prizewinning novelist in Filipino Cherylin Sarigumba; and UP Diliman professor Paolo Manalo, who recently got back from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland where he gained his Ph.D. in Creative Writing.

Quite a cast it was, and with the buffet table and fine wines for the evening, a merry Springtime was had by all. The only sad note was learning that Mickaël is ending his tour of duty here by August. So now we can only hope that he revisits in time for the 15th edition of Printemps des Poetes in Manila, which has certainly owed him a lot in terms of spirit, dedication and inspiration. Merci beaucoup, Mickaël! 

Barely a week later, on World Poetry Day on March 21, “A Walk Through Words” was held at the fountain area by Tower One at the Ayala Triangle, featuring a variety of poets reading their own works before an engaged audience.

The event was organized by Metro Serye, a monthly literary chapbook edited by prizewinning poet Mookie Katigbak Lacuesta, in partnership with Filipinas Heritage Library, Ayala Land, Inc. and Flipside Publishing Services. The objective was to celebrate World Poetry Day by “bringing poetry to pedestrians and passersby as they make their way around the Central Business District.” 

The initial venue for the reading was supposed to have been the Ayala Triangle garden park, where trees provide canopies above the walkways frequented by corporate employees and bosses. But the threat of early summer rain forced redeployment to where that modernistic curved roof protected a landmark plaza by the Stock Exchange Bldg.

A simple dais accommodated the readers and musicians, among them the usual suspects that were Jimmy Abad, RayVi Sunico, Vim Nadera (performing with magician Richard Buligan), and this poet, this time joined in by operatic poet Mike Coroza, poet-dancer Nerisa del Carmen Guevara, prizewinning poet Eliza Victoria, premier fiction writer Sarge Lacuesta, poetry author Carlomar Daoana, and Metro Serye’s marketing director Anina Abola.

Philippine Star columnist and indefatigable author RJ Ledesma also joined in with a fine reading (from his cell phone) of a poem by our New York-based colleague and kumpare Eric Gamalinda. Other readers included editors of Ateneo’s Heights literary journal, among them Krissa Celestino, JC Casimiro and Nico Caluya. The duo of Arya Herrera and Reb Atadero broke the ice and also provided an intermission number.  

We were also fortunate to have, originally as part of the audience, the premier poets Ricky de Ungria who had just planed in from Davao and Bimboy Peñaranda of Bai, Laguna. And so they were pressed into service, thus also regaling the crowd. And passers-by. Who of course entirely stood still, or pressed forward as captive market, upon the introduction of the final reader, Gloc9, arguably the most successful and popular rap artist in town. Who proceeded to show up the page and performance poets alike with his brand of recited lines in rhyme and rhythmic beat, in Filipino, segue-ing back and forth with a catchy backbeat sung by a lady artist.

Such fun for World Poetry Day. Oh, and by the by, Metro Serye’s second edition features short fiction by Anne Lagamayo and Marguerite Alcazaren de Leon, with illustrations by Manix Abrera.

We’re also happy to note that our lifetime buddy Salvador “Dodong” Arellano, one of the finest equine and gamefowl painters in the world, recently exhibited his equestrian watercolors and oils in Dubai. This was in conjunction with the 17th annual $10-million World Cup event in the United Arab Emirates, where the world’s best thoroughbred champions competed for the richest purse in international horse racing. 

Based in Los Angeles for the past 15 years, Arellano counts members of royalty, Hollywood movie personalities, and Manila’s elite as owners of his paintings. International clients include Sylvester Stallone, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, and HRH The Prince of Wales. (A portrait of his favorite polo pony “Jorrie” was commissioned by Dr. Armand Hammer in 1989 and given personally to Prince Charles as a gift.) Dodong has also painted a portrait of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, as commissioned by the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital and England’s International Centre for Child and Family Studies.  

His works aren’t usually exhibited in galleries, since he interacts directly with clients. In Manila, these include the Aranetas, Cojuangcos, Romulos, Enriles, former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada, and Senator Ed Angara, who commissioned individual portraits of his family. 

Dodong Arellano’s recent works are also currently on exhibit, since March 25, at Santa Anita racetrack’s annual Wine Tasting Festival in California.