Sublimity in print.
In a world that is moved by collective ticks of clocks, PALABRA endeavored to melt the passage of time almost a week ago in The Poetry Hour: A Spoken Word Showcase.
University of San Carlos’s BA Literary and Cultural Studies with Creative Writing (BA LCS) was invited to Komunidad Inked Scripts 2024, an event organized by Ayala Malls in Ayala Central Bloc last Saturday, May 25, 2024. An hour was designated to hold a segment for the art of spoken word from 5PM to 6PM, featuring seasoned professionals, poets, students majoring in LCS, and a HUMSS Student from Hulma, the Literature club of USC South Campus on the stage of the Activity Center.
Starting off strong with Sir Nino Loyola’s untitled balak which takes inspiration from the concept of Thanatos drinking coffee in Mandaue. One that reflects on the mundanity of death. As if to say that the only thing you can trust a living thing to do is die, it reflects an image of death that is fair, true, and reliable. That, regardless of what coffee you drink, you can always expect death to fetch you without discrimination.
Following him is Sir Julius Cudera, performing his poem Murag Gwapo Sad ka Dá [As If You’re Handsome], a satirical criticism of the double standard often pointed out among women that is hardly acknowledged in men, the “pretty privilege”. Much like most approaches to men’s societal hardships, the poem is a humorous take that sheds into the light the incredulousness of societal expectations that the audience can’t help but laugh at, unfair as it is.
If there’s one thing you can expect PALABRA to do, it’s encapsulate the human experience into a performance. Five students from BA LCS (namely Arcturus Jerome Gonzales, Jessiel Donaire, Mary Louise Raboy, Louise Patricia Matondo, Fidel Febonee Ferol and Adrian Roz) performed Idyll, by Jonathan Wolfgang von Goethe, the only poem in the lineup that is not made by its performer. The narrative ultimately boils down to the preference of solitude over company, and the performance captured just that masterfully.
If there’s one thing you can expect PALABRA to do, it’s encapsulate the human experience into a performance. Five students from BA LCS (namely Arcturus Jerome Gonzales, Jessiel Donaire, Mary Louise Raboy, Louise Patricia Matondo, Fidel Febonee Ferol and Adrian Roz) performed Idyll, by Jonathan Wolfgang von Goethe, the only poem in the lineup that is not made by its performer. The narrative ultimately boils down to the preference of solitude over company, and the performance captured just that masterfully.
Representing LCS 1st Years, Kimberly “King” Bacalla took the stage next. She performed a CESAFI-winning balak titled ‘Kapin sa dul-an ng mga pahinunguod’. Today’s degrading reality is in no way a unique or rare theme, but the way it is so poetically and masterfully put makes one wonder for what could have been. Its most eye-catching aspect is the most prominent—its language. It uses formal bisaya in today’s climate that has a discriminatory preference for the English language.
Following her is 2nd Year LCS student Bhon Glory Cabilete performing Saludos [Salutations] to be published in the second edition of Mathematics is a Woman (MIAW). The poem tells of a woman in the world, and her fierce insistence to fit in a world is not built for her. Her efforts to earn the competencies that make them the rulers of the world will continuously snub her, but she endures, so she can give her salutations to the woman that gave her this chance—her mom. MIAW is her first published book which contains poetry about the waves of feminism. It was published in celebration of Women’s Month.
Arthur Brooks once proposed that people are divided into four kinds per their reaction to emotions, one of which categories is “poets”, the kind that feels their hurt more than anything. And these poets were represented by LCS 3’s Peter Junriel Milana and his gut-wrenching ‘The Best I Can Be’. A poetic storytelling of the criticisms made his way, cracks that made their way into the foundation of his character. So much so that it breaks who he fundamentally is and resorts to a bravado of calculated smiles instead. A cruel reminder to everyone to mind their business because their words often are not mere words to those who hear it.
Hailing from USC South Campus is Mikaela Angela Mechavez, representing the Senior High School, and Hulma, its Creative Writing Club, performing Putot [Short]. Her performance is less a rhythmic and technical one, more evoking and narrative. It tells a story—her story—of the world from her point of view as a short girl in a small town as she moves into a big city for a bigger school, not realizing it would make her shorter and smaller than she already feels.
Mikaela Angeline Aloba, Sebby Alberca, and Aaliyah Julianna Agustin brough Madam Oracle to the Activity Center stage, a three-headed divinity that can answer any and all questions one word at a time. Earning questions like “what’s for dinner?” (courtesy Sir Niño Loyola), the Oracle named Samantha, Problematic, and Amazing answered with spontaneity and senselessness, and hilarity ensued between everyone involved.
Samuel Mendez II, the newly elected PALABRA President, symbolically wrapped up the event with an on-the-spot poem that utilized prompts given by the audience at the beginning of the hour. Using the prompts color yellow, memory of eating apple strudel, city of Minglanilla, smell of grass, genre of Romance-Horror, and the word novel, Samuel built the poem Baked Apple in less than an hour. The poem told of the narrator’s wicked obsession in such a way that made obsession glamorous instead. Samuel Mendez II proves yet again why he is one of the most well-decorated DCLL students in all of, well, DCLL.
The segment was arranged by the newly appointed officers of Pulong sa mga Alagad sa Obra (PALABRA, co-curricular organization of BA LCS). Initially, the organizers of Komunidad Inked Scripts 2024 invited BA English Language Studies (BA ELS) but the Society of Language Enthusiasts (SOLE, co-curricular organization of BA ELS) handed off the honor to PALABRA due to their inherent affinity with poetry and literature as their major suggests. The outgoing officers of PALABRA then granted the opportunity of organizing the showcase to the newly-appointed officers instead, citing that their motivation is for the new officers to be acquainted with the responsibility of holding such events weeks into the job.
It can be remembered that Societatis Lingua Artes (SOLARES, co-curricular organization of Department of Communications, Linguistics, and Literature) held the three-day Sulyap sa Sining 2024 in the Activity Center of Ayala Malls Center Bloc a month ago.
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But a passerby who wishes her daydreams be told to the world.