For whatever rhyme or reason

Manila, Philippines - It is the degradation of language, really. It is saddening to see things like “Dito na me” or worse, “D2 n me.” Or even the more palatable: “Sup?”

Fine, even I’ll admit I use “’Sup?” in my text messages. Except I don’t forget to use an apostrophe, and usually spell it out to its full slang term “Wassup?” I mean, that’s the word, really. But I’ve seen e-mails that merely inquire, “Sup?”

Really? That’s as far as you go? On a freaking e-mail?

And don’t get me started on the jejemon language. Whoever told them that typing every other letter in one word in the capital form and leaving the other lower case is not fUnNy 0r CutE. It’s frigging annoying.

Unfortunately, people, this is the norm. We have technology to thank for the devolution of language, whether our own or the English language. There is nothing wrong with it in the first place. Both are beautiful languages. They roll off the tongue when used well.

Gibo said it: Come on, we all learned proper sentence construction in Grade One.

But the onset of text messaging and chatting has changed our mindset, it seems, to shrinking everything to an easier-to-digest 140-character version that is easier to transmit. It has become all about getting the message across and not how you get the message across, which is just as important. The medium is the message, they say. And I’ll make excuses for text messaging, it’s the 21st century. But e-mail? Comments on Facebook? And yes, I’ve heard, some papers in school?

If I was your teacher and you passed me a paper written in abbreviated spelling and short-cut grammar, you would automatically flunk my course. I’d send you back to Grade One to relearn your sentence construction.

More than ever, that’s why I think poetry is needed. And I’m not talking about the corny Hallmark card rhyming B.S. people think poetry is. A rhyme doesn’t make a poem. It’s the effective use of language to redefine a moment or experience. Or as my Introduction to Poetry class professor, the Palanca Hall of Famer Cirilo Bautista, describes: “a way of saying one thing but meaning another.”

It’s not lying; it is an analogy, a metaphor. The poem in itself is an example of how all human experiences are connected and what makes those connections are words. A tree is a poem. Love is blind. A face can launch a thousand ships. These words sound false, but if you read between the lines, you will find the truth in them. That’s the power of language.

Did U gEt ThAt, p0w?

“Poetry is always important,” relates Karina Bolasco, publisher of Anvil Publishing. “Poetry, like the rest of literature, represents in fine language, a human experience and moves us in a certain way. It is also the most imaginative because it shows us different ways of looking at the most ordinary things.”

And you’d think the generation that completely embraces left-of-center, out-of-the-box thinking would learn to appreciate poetry. The same generation being blamed for preferring the form to the substance, you’d think they would be more attracted to poetry, which fits so well into the world of subversive messages and things never seeming to be what they are.

Why can’t poetry be popular again?

To my surprise, Karina Bolasco shoots down my idea and tells me that she doesn’t ever recall a time when Filipinos ever really embraced poetry “except maybe for the time of the balagtasan.” The balagtasan, I remember being told by poet Michael Coroza, was a speech competition and debate but done in poetry form. Oh yeah, and it was completely improvised. You’ll never see them saying “pow” after a verse, unless they meant it to be sarcastic, which to my dismay is not how it’s used these days by some people.

“Lourd God”: Hip poetry courtesy of Lourd de Veyra.

Poetry is the celebration of the experience of living through language. And we do that a lot with fashion and with music and with our television shows. How come we can’t do that in our words and speech? Not necessarily speak like Shakespearean characters but to pepper our conversations with witticisms, sarcasm, irony, and puns; to use language to its full potential. Because it’s one of our most important tools for expressing thoughts. And we cannot — should not — let it fall to the way of “D2 n me.”      

Good poetry can move you like good song lyrics will. The trick is finding the right poet for you. If Charles Simic is too caught up into his own metaphors, maybe you should try the more natural, romantic Mary Oliver. If Cirilo Bautista’s poems are too cerebral, maybe you’d want to try the softer, more emotional work of Danny Reyes. You want to read poetry but still be hip? Lourd De Veyra does excellent work and Ramil Gulle has poems that are so sensual, it would cause the CBCP to lose their heads. Patti Smith is a poet as well as the godmother of rock and roll. Get into the Beat poets. There are all kinds of poems for all kinds of people.

“We need not worry that it will die or just vanish,” Bolasco assures me regarding the state of poetry, “I know poetry is one, if not the top category in the Palanca awards that gets the most number of entries.”

My wish is that more people read it, really get into it, rather than just write it.