When verses come alive

MANILA, Philippines - Actor, musician, writer, and spoken word artist Juan Miguel Severo — Gege to his most intimate friends — definitely loves to blab, but when he does so onstage, letters just come flying out of his mouth in a syncopated stream of profound melancholy. Hailed by some as the king of hugot, we at Supreme feel privileged to have caught up with this modern wordsmith and recent TEDxButuan speaker to talk about stage fright, hip poetics, the apparently rediscovered nature of hugot, and pop appeal.

SUPREME: We all know that poetry has invariably been performed in various literary circles locally. Why do you think has there been a sudden boom in spoken word performance as of late?

JUAN MIGUEL SEVERO: I think a lot of it has to do with social media. With spoken word performances from YouTube shared on Facebook and Twitter through platforms like Upworthy and HuffingtonPost, it became impossible for the new art form not to gain traction. I also think that Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye coming to Manila has a lot to do with it. When my group, Words Anonymous, started arranging for the event we didn’t think we could fill a 300-seater auditorium. But after the tickets had sold out within days of selling, we had to arrange for another night and a bigger venue dahil sa sobrang lakas ng demand. Phil and Sarah said the second night, held at the Irwin Theater in Ateneo, was their biggest crowd ever. Feeling ko it was then that people realized na hindi sila-sila lang ang may gusto sa art form na ‘to. There’s a big audience for spoken word poetry in the country. Ang laking bagay rin nito para sa grupo namin kasi marami ang doon lang nalamang may local group of spoken word poets pala at — hindi lang Button Poetry videos ang solusyon to get their dose of spoken word — mayroong lugar na puwede nilang puntahan kapag gusto nilang makanood ng spoken word live.

Can you tell us where exactly the spoken word scene is in the current literary landscape?

The scene still needs a lot of growing, but personally, I’m very positive that for a community this young, we are doing pretty good. Andami pang nag-uusbungan na spoken word groups, like Southspeaks and White Wall Poetry, which only means na ang dami pang kuwentong maikukuwento at iba-ibang istilo ng pagtula pa ang lalabas. Isa pa, this art form is so young, the academe has yet to get a hold of it or formulate their definition of it, but it is interesting that institutions are starting to take notice. At the end of the month, for example, Western Visayas State University is to have a two-day series of creative writing seminars called Panulaton, covering flash fiction, poetry, short story writing, and spoken word poetry. Pupunta ako roon to give the lecture on spoken word and stay to be a judge at the poetry slam happening at the end of the seminar. The fact that there are separate lectures on page poetry and spoken word poetry is such a good sign for the community because it only means that there is an acknowledgment of how spoken word is a different form. I’m not sure I can disclose the details of the other big things happening yet, but let’s just say this brand of spoken word is — I’m being optimistic here — also about to grace the CCP (winks).

I was one of the people who saw your Huling Tula video go viral. Since then, there has been this perception that the spoken word genre is just all about hugot and other millennial woes. Your thoughts?

Una sa lahat, hugot or “to pull out” means to come from somewhere, right? At ano bang akdang naisulat ang walang pinanggalingan? You have to come from somewhere when you write and that somewhere does not have to be a place of grief. Pero, sige, fine, gamitin natin ‘yang bagong definition ng hugot na ‘yan. At first, I was worried that I might misrepresent the form with that video, but now I think it’s okay especially if it eventually serves as some sort of a gateway drug to the art form. Kasi, for example, ang una kong mga napanood na spoken word poetry videos ay tungkol naman din sa pag-ibig gaya ng When Love Arrives ni Sarah Kay at Phil Kaye o ng OCD ni Neil Hilborn. Pero eventually that led me to lots of other pieces that were political, that tackled racial and gender issues, etc. I believe that those who truly fell in love with the form would eventually look for more and more poems with varying themes. And believe me, dito sa Pilipinas, hindi lang tungkol sa pag-ibig ang isinusulat ng spoken word artists. And if I helped in bringing the art form into the consciousness of more people through that poem, then I’m proud of and grateful for it. Pero, yes, sobrang nag-alala rin naman talaga ako noong makarinig ako ng mga ganong klaseng kritisismo sa spoken word poetry scene kaya rin Words Anonymous decided to put up this event called Bawal ang Pag-ibig earlier this month para lang ipakita sa mga tao na spoken word is more than just hugot. We did pieces about women owning their bodies, being battered as a child, bullying, promiscuity, desaparecidos, even Pokemons and Dragon Ball Z (laughs)! Kung pumunta ang tao roon at inisip pa rin na puro love problems lang ang inaatupag ng spoken word poets, ewan ko na.

Pero ito pa pala. Again using the love-stricken definition of the term, medyo naiinis ako sa “hugot-shaming.” The art form is born from the mouths of the oppressed. It has always been a way to somehow liberate oneself from whatever chains that bound them. At oo, ang daming ibang mas malalaking isyu sa mundo na siguro dapat pagtuunan ng pansin o gawan ng tula. Pero dapat din nating tandaan na ang spoken word is about giving anyone an avenue to express. It is about having the freedom to tell one’s story. We need to remember that each story, each form of expression is valid. I admit, these days, I make a conscious effort to veer away from love poems muna dahil ayoko maging repetitive at makahon sa ganoon lang. Pero sino tayo para pigilan ang mga tao na magsulat ng tungkol sa pag-ibig kung in a way it is what oppresses them? Fine, andaming nagugutom all around the world at nagsisitunawan na ang ice caps pero andami ring nagpapakamatay nang dahil sa pag-ibig, huy. And if people roll their eyes just because those pieces about love are being watched more than the “socially relevant” ones, well, pakatandaan na kahit naman sa pelikula, musika, at iba pang sining, parati namang lumulutang ang mga piyesang tungkol sa pag-ibig e. Pablo Neruda has political poems pero hanggang ngayon hindi pa rin maka-move on ang mga tao sa If You Forget Me at Tonight I Write the Saddest Lines. Hindi naiiba ang spoken word. So if you’re someone who keeps on raving about Taylor Swift pero panay ang reklamo na puro tungkol sa pag-ibig ang spoken word pieces na tinatangkilik ng tao, hindi yata kita maseseryoso.

Is there a criterion by which you gauge what makes a literary material viable for live reading?

Honestly, wala pa naman talagang prescribed na paraan ng pagsulat ng spoken word. Minsan pakiramdam ko, the form is still in a constant state of invention and is still trying to define itself. Pero I guess if we are going to look for patterns, makikita natin na spoken word poems are more conversational than traditional poetry. Good luck kung ang gusto mong i-perform ay The Bashful One ni Jose Garcia Villa, halimbawa. Mag-korteng comma ka sa stage tapos yun na? (Laughs) Saka dahil hindi hawak ng audience ang kopya ng tula mo at hindi nila kayang balikan ang mga nagdaang linya para mas namnamin pa, kailangan mong ihatid sa kanila ang mensahe mo spontaneously. Personally, kaya medyo mahilig ako sa repetition dahil pakiramdam ko nagagawa nito ‘yon. At siguro keep in mind na although this form is freer compared to page poetry, the usage of language still needs to be elevated and the lack of a meter doesn’t mean rhythm isn’t important. Kasi kung hindi, baka nagra-rant ka lang onstage.

In terms of subject matter, do you feel compelled as a performance poet to sort of carry an advocacy onstage?

When Huling Tula went viral naramdaman ko ‘yan. Parang bumagsak sa akin ang isang malaking bloke ng social responsibility to write and perform poems about issues that I care about. Pero not necessarily advocacy. At least not yet. For now, I just want to write about as many possible themes and topics as I can. Bago pa rin lang kasi ako siguro rito. Sa tingin ko kung magsulat ako nang may adbokasiya sa utak ko, yun at yun ang maibibigay kong kuwento sa bawat piyesa. I don’t want to write pieces to satisfy my advocacies. I want to write because there is simply something to be written about. May naaalala akong sinabi ni Eddie Romero na medyo related to this. Hindi ko na maalala eksakto, pero it’s something like, “Don’t think of the message. If there is a message in the story, the story will deliver it. If you’re more concerned about the message than the story, write a pamphlet.”

Let’s talk about performance. Here, you have a piece which is very so dear to you. How do you relate it to your audience, get your message across, and still leave it open to interpretation? How do you strike a bargain with the audience?

Hmm… What I do is to simply stay true to the story that gave me the poem. I get very nervous when performing so I use that energy for intensity. I don’t really have an exact formula for it, pero iyon nga, I just stay true to the story behind the poem, magnify it a little for theatricality’s sake, and let the audience find their own truth in it.

Has there been an instance where you “choked” in front of the mic stand and had to ad lib or any other deviation from your material?

That has happened on numerous occasions. Pero siguro dahil I got into this out of my frustration over being an unemployed actor kaya I treat it the way an actor would. Tuloy lang hanggang hindi pa nagka-cut si direk. There was one time I had to improvise an entire verse until the real next lines came back to me. Another time, I resorted to theatrics — nag-face palm ako sabay stare into nothingness complete with face-trembling effects. One time din may pinalitan akong linya dahil may crush ako sa audience because malandi ako like that.

So do you have any unique exercises or rituals to prep yourself for a performance, or are you one of those “de-pitik” artists?

I think all of my friends from Words Anonymous do this thing where minutes before a performance tatayo sila sa isang sulok na wala masyadong tao tapos you mouth your piece there. Atsaka we practice everywhere we go. Ako kahit nasa bus o tren mukha akong tangang nag-eensayo ng piyesa, eh. Kahit simpleng mouthing your words whenever, wherever possible helps. If possible, pati hand gestures at galaw ng paa dahil importante rin ang muscle memory. Pero I think yung pinaka-on button ko is grazing my face with my palms. Unang napansin ‘yon ng mga kasama ko sa WA. I tend to quickly graze my face with my palms before starting a piece. Ang joke namin, “insta-internalize” yun.

And what should be the most important rule for a spoken word artist?

Embrace vulnerability. The level of vulnerability in doing spoken word is immensely heightened. This is more than simply writing wherein you have pages to screen you from your readers or just acting where you embody a written character. Here you are both writer and performer, both story and storyteller. If you’re not willing to share yourself through your poem onstage, you better stick to the page.

Uy, nag-rhyme!

* * *

Tweet the author @Watdahel_Marcel.