What writers think, and how

Every summer, usually after Holy Week, the University of the Philippines Institute of Creative Writing brings a contingent (this year, a baker’s dozen) of the best of our younger and most productive writers up to Baguio for an intensive workshop that focuses on their ongoing projects and deals with issues that typically come with what we call that “mid-career” stage — publication, balancing work and life, zeroing in on what one really wants to do, fine-tuning one’s voice and pitch. These are writers who have already published at least one book or who may be very close to publishing one, so we encourage them to soldier on while addressing problems we may spot in their work.

This year’s fellows for Filipino were John Barrios, U Z. Eliserio, Phillip Yerro Kimpo, Carlos M. Piocos III, Louie Jon A. Sanchez and Rody Vera. Those for English were Jose Marte Abueg, Nikki Alfar, Maribel Kawsek, Priscilla Supnet Macansantos, Andrea Pasion, Rafael Antonio San Diego and Jojo Gumpal Silvestre. 

One of the things we ask these writers to do is to make a brief presentation of their “poetics” — in other words, some explanation of why they write what they write. This not only helps them figure out, logically, what may have been a largely intuitive process, but also yields a wealth of insights into how writers think about their writing and themselves.

For a glimpse into those minds, let me offer up a sampler of excerpts from this batch’s poetics.

Andrea Pasion, fictionist: I am looking at embarking on major work that explores the geo-political aspect that goes into relationships of people (within families and social classes), of countries/governments and how all this affects the Filipino. I like it that travel has become more accessible to the Filipino and I am intrigued by how that might broaden my thinking, and the collective thinking of the Filipino.

I want to figure out how the Internet affects relationships, how this might bring people closer or farther apart. Can photographs, email and private messages on Facebook compensate for the lack of a tactile relationship, for example? Clearly, I am obsessed right now with the notion of place and what the word means at this time, which is probably why I also like Bruce Chatwin, whose travel essays are really writing about the self and his interaction with others within the context of place.

Rody Vera, playwright: Ang pagsusulat ko ng dula ay hindi natatapos sa pagtipa ko ng salitang “Wakas” sa aking iskrip. Nagpapatuloy ito sa rehearsal. Nakikita ko kung umuubra ang mahabang eksenang ito o bumabagal ang eksenang iyon. Nakikita ko ang problema ng dramaturhiya at istruktura dahil sa tulong ng mga artista at direktor habang nag-iensayo. Doon ako sa ensayo higit kailanman gising at alerto. Gusto kong malaman kung, tulad sa isang disenyong pang-arkitektura, ang totoong bahay ay tatayo at maganda.

Pagkat nakapaloob sa produksiyon, sa kulay ng boses ng artista, sa porma ng kanyang katawan, ang potensyal at katuparan ng dulang sinusulat ko. Bilang drama at panitikan. At kung makumbinsi akong problema ito ng tekstong sinulat ko, kailangan itong rebisahin. Kasama ang buong proseso ng ensayo sa pagsusulat ko ng dula. Importanteng bahagi ang mga miyembro ng produksiyon sa pagsusulat na ito. Pagkat hindi ko tinitingnan bilang hadlang o panganib sa pagsusulat ko ang anomang ambag na maaaring maidagdag ng mga miyembro ng produksiyon sa patuloy na pagbubuo ng dula. Kung kaya’t wala akong malaking isyu kung ipakiusap sa akin ng direktor o ng artista na kung maaaring palitan ang linyang ito, o baguhin ang eksenang iyon. Ako pa rin naman ang magpupumilit na baguhin ito o magpasyang huwag ito baguhin. Pero hindi sa dahilang ang sinulat ko’y nagtagumpay na bilang panitikan, kundi sa dahilang, kailangang magtagumpay muna siya sa entablado.

Rafael Antonio San Diego: I believe in affect poetry. I believe that good writing is one that bridges the heart of the reader with the heart of the world. What I learned from that Robert Hass poem long ago is that there is understanding beyond logic; you don’t have to understand something in order to know that it has made a deep impact on your life. Like love, like mystery, a mathematics of sense, where you add two things together and end up divided, like a beast and a man both wounded, and you as witness to both their mortal ails.

The world is one great poem, and I am the pen that scribes my own epic on the palm of my lands. Every action is a word, every day a story, every moment an utterance. It is my job to revel in it all.

Carlos M. Piocos III, poet: Iniisip ko, higit na mas malapit na sa akin ang panganib at kamatayan. Pinatay ang isa sa mga matatalik kong kaibigan, sinakal sa loob ng kanyang sasakyan. Sinasagasaan ang isa ko pang kaibigan habang tumatawid sa Ortigas at kahawak-kamay ang sinisikreto nyang kasintahan. Ang isa ko naming gerilyang kaibigan, nakatakas nga sa engkuwentro laban sa kalaban, ay naglangib ang sugat mula sa bala sa paa habang tumatawid sa di-alam na bahagi ng kabundukan. Wala sa kanila ang minasaker. Wala rin sa kanila ang biktima ng crime of passion. Ngunit inisip ko, biktima sila ng kani-kanilang bersyon ng pag-ibig.

Maraming uri ng krimen na kayang gawin sa ngalan ng kung anu-anong uri ng pusok. At sa lahat ng krimen, ang krimen ng passion o ang pusok ang naglalaro sa hangganan ng kastigo sa absuwelto, ng kasalanan sa awa, ng pusok sa puso. Sa pasion ni Kristo, kastigasyon ang hinarap para maabsuwelto ang mundo. Sa dinami-rami ng mga nagpakamatay at pumapatay sa iba’t ibang uri ng digmaan sa kasaysayan, inaabsuwelto sila ng kanilang pag-ibig at paniniwala. At sa dinami-rami ng mga pinagbabawal, lahat tayo ay kriminal ng ating puso, umuumit tayo ng sandali at madalas magkasala, umaasa sa awa ng langit, ng Lungsod, ng Lahat.

Priscilla Supnet Macansantos, essayist: Much of what we are is shaped by experience, which is the stuff of memory. Writing allows us to finally “make sense” of events and experience, even if, taken separately, events hold little significance in our lives. I have never written fiction, and I personally see that kind of writing as something more difficult because one has to do a great deal of invention and imagination. Having said that, the writing of autobiographical essays can pose considerable challenge as well, and the difficulties can be more pronounced if one has to work at finding anything remarkable about a particular life, or period in history. Arguably, every life is interesting, and any period in history is exceptional. Still, it is the writer’s task to put it together, not unlike any work of art.

Autobiography necessarily focuses on a single life, but lives are lived amongst other lives. Moreover, lives are shaped by the times in which they are lived. It is the writer’s challenge to blend these two facets — the personal and the shared life — to come up with a chronicle of a unique and individual life that others can somehow empathize with.

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E-mail me at penmanila@yahoo.com and check out my blog at www.penmanila.ph.