Last Love by J.D. Mariposa (Poem) - Literary Analysis

I was randomly sent this poem by a random stranger via email. The sender said she's writing an essay about the poem for her literature class and she wanted to know what I thought of it. When I got to the end of the poem, I felt like I just chewed bubble gum. The poem's too sweet for its own good. It's all rainbows and butterflies. But then again, maybe that's the point the poet was trying to make.

I can see why teenagers would go over the moon for a poem of this nature. I can picture a 12-year-old me secretly copying this poem and giving it to a girl-crush as an attempt to impress. I searched for J.D. Mariposa on Google to see if she (or he) has other poems I can check out. Because it would be unfair to judge her (or him) based on a single poem. This is where it becomes strange. I can't find other poems by the poet. Most of the results reference this one single poem.

So I got back to the email sender and asked if she wrote the poem herself. She said no. She said a friend forwarded it to her and she liked it and she wanted to write an essay about it. I didn't do any further digging. So all I know about this J.D. Mariposa is basically this poem. If anyone knows J.D. or has copies of her (or his) other poems, shoot me an email. I'd be happy to read them.

Last Love
by J.D. Mariposa

Best of friends
together took a leap
Now true friends
ahh! feelings run deep
Two hearts fused
hands ever entwined

Ti's all worth the wait
to care for one as kindly
Never never too late
to love but not blindly

So, to you my friend first,
my last love, i say
I'll be true every and
each of my waking day!

Notes and Analysis

- The poem pretty much explains and analyzes itself. It's an affirmation of the greatness of love and the feelings that serve as its roots. The poem runs like a story. The two subjects became "best of friends" then they "took a leap" to become more than best of friends. They graduated to being "true friends". I take this to mean being lovers.

The last stanza is a promise by the speaker to be a "last love". That means offering his/her affections each of his/her "waking day". That's a win for love.

Sunflower by Tita Lacambra Ayala (Poem) - Literary Analysis

I've heard (or read) a few times that Sunflower is supposed to be Ayala's first poem. Not only that, it's also her favorite or one of her favorites. I won't be surprised if these are indeed true. Sunflowers seem to be the flora she adore the most. After all, she has written a whole collection of poems around these gigantic organic yellow discs.

Sunflower
by Tita Lacambra Ayala

Poised to the sun, like warning of violence,
its neck arches subtly hiding there
whatever wistfulness it has from
the uninvolved eye. And its worship
is gay, bedecked in reflected sunshine,
honest as dress of green the coolness
of rivers. This is the plant of courage
growing rank among the stones (how well
it hides the bitter of its sap) preening
without pretense, loving itself as much
as the source of its roots and ends
in whatever season or age, warming
November and December’s gloom like,
wherever it can, a piece of sun.

Notes and Analysis / Study Guide for Students

- There are a few words in the poem that might require definition for an easier understanding of the poem's flow. Wistfulness - full of yearning or desire tinged with melancholy. Rank - offensive in odor or flavor. Preening - to make oneself sleek. Take the time to internalize what these words mean then go back to the poem.

- What is the theme or meaning of the poem? The poem is basically a tribute by the poet to a flower that she loves. Think of it as a love letter by the poet to the reader announcing her adoration for the flower. The poem is almost like a list enumerating the attributes of the flower. It's like the poet is seeking validation from the reader that the sunflower is indeed a "piece of the sun". An alternative title for the poem could've been "The Sunflower is Just Awesome".

Understanding Phrases from the Poem

1. like warning of violence - The sunflower has an almost threatening stance when leaning towards the sun. Google images of "sunflowers" right now and stare at them for a while. They do look like a mob, don't they?

2. bedecked in reflected sunshine - The sunflower is awash in light. There's yellow everywhere.

3. plant of courage growing rank among the stones preening without pretense - Sunflowers are among the few flowers that don't smell good. Some hate them for how they smell. It's not "bad bad" but "enough bad" to make you not like them. The poet is saying that the sunflower is courageous for growing and showing off without pretense even though it doesn't smell as good as other flowers. I guess you could say that there is a moral lesson hidden somewhere in there. Something about being comfortable in your own skin. Don't smell as good as the rose or the sampaguita? Don't take it as a problem but as a source of pride. "Preen without pretense" like the sunflower.

4. warming November and December's gloom - Sunflowers bloom in the ber months which are usually cold and gray months. Like pieces of the sun, sunflowers offer some sort of respite to the enveloping gloom.

The Wedding Dance by Amador T. Daguio (Short Story) - Literary Analysis

The Wedding Dance by Amador T. Daguio is a story I particularly appreciated for the simple reason that I'm an Igorot. The characters in the story are Igorots and the setting is in an Igorot village. The story reminds me of the quaint little village in Mt. Province where I grew up. A story strikes you different if you have a sense of place and belonging in it. This is one of such stories. This is a well-known tale within literary communities in the Philippines. After reading it, I can see why. Everyone loves a love story. But a love story between two indigenous characters  stuck in an often romanticized period back in the day? That's milk and honey for literary junkies.

The Characters

1. Awiyao - An Igorot man who decides to separate with his wife (a wife he dearly loves) because she hasn't given him a child after seven years of marriage.
2. Lumnay - Awiyao's wife.
3. Madulimay - Awiyao's new wife.

Plot and Summary

On his wedding night to a new bride, Awiyao decides to momentarily leave the celebrations to go to his house and visit his previous wife, Lumnay. The two have been together for seven years but their union has not produced an offspring. Thus Awiyao's decision to part ways with Lumnay and take another wife, a younger woman named Madulimay. Awiyao still loves Lumnay and Lumnay still loves Awiyao. But in order for Awiyao to prove himself a man in the eyes of his community, he must have an offspring. Someone to carry his name forward, the way he carried his father's name.

Awiyao repeatedly asks Lumnay to leave the house and join the wedding dance outside. He tells her that if she joins the dance, one of the men will take notice of her and might even ask to marry her. If she's luckier with the man, she might even bear a child with him. But Lumnay tells him that she doens't wan't anyone else. She only wants him.

Awiyao offers Lumnay the house but the latter refuses it, telling him that she needs to go to her parents as they are already old and they need assistance in planting beans and pounding rice. Awiyao then offers a field but Lumnay refuses the offer just the same. Lumnay only requests that she keeps her beads as these remind her of the love that Awiyao has for her. The beads are worth twenty fields. Awiyao gave the beads to her and left to rejoin the festivities.

Suddenly awash with the courage to fight for her feelings, Lumnay decides to go to the wedding and confront the crowd. To tell the village chief that it is not right to take away Awiyao from her just because she can't bear him a child. However, as she nears the clearing where the wedding dance is being held, the bright lights spook her. She decides to just get away from there. She backs away and follows a trail leading away from the village and up a mountain. From a clearing at the top, Lumnay can see the bright lights of the wedding dance.

The story ends with Lumnay lost among the bean pods at the clearing.

Notes and Analysis; Study Guide for Students

What is the central theme of the story? 

The story has a two-pronged theme. On one end is the unbreakable romantic bond between Awiyao and Lumnay. On the other end are the demands of a society deeply entrenched in cultural and traditional values. The central idea of the story lies in the area where these two ends meet. I think we can mold the theme in the form of a question - What happens when the bond between two people goes head to head with the bond of society-imposed conventions? Which bond will break in the collision? Who will suffer?

What is the conflict in the story? 

A lot of readers think that the conflict in the story has Awiyao and Lumnay as the opposing forces. I think this is a misreading of the tale. I would say that the opposing forces are Awiyao and Lumnay on one side and society on the other side. If you read the story again, both of them blatantly question what society demands of them. Awiyao questions the unwritten rule that a man must have a child to come after him. Lumnay believes that it is not right for someone else to take away Awiyao from her just because she can't bear him a child.

Awiyao and Lumnay both believe that the system is wrong. However, the difference lies in how they tried to fight the system. Technically, Awiyao didn't fight it since he chose to look for a new wife in the hope that she'll bear him a child. He basically gave in to the demands of the society he lives in. Lumnay at least tried when she attempted to approach the wedding dance and confront the chief. She also has the choice of joining the dance and potentially getting picked by another man. But she didn't do it. It's either Awiyao or no one. She'd rather be alone than be with any other man.

What is the moral lesson in the story? 

Awiyao is a man who followed the demands of society instead of following the demands of his heart. Lumnay, on the other hand, followed her heart to the very end. She even contemplated confronting the whole village to fight for what she feels in her heart. In my eyes, Lumnay is the hero of the story, albeit a broken one. Most stories end with the hero present as a parting gesture. In The Wedding Dance, Lumnay ends the story.

What does the ending of the story mean? 

The story ends with Lumnay deep in thought at the top of the mountain. We can try to understand what her next moves be based on her prior actions. She was given all the chance to try and take back Awiyao who is rightfully hers. She wasn't able to do so. So her walking away from the light of the wedding dance and her walking away from the village to escape the sounds symbolizes her attempt to escape from the whole thing. She has made the decision to walk away. Maybe the union of Awiyao and Madulimay will not bear fruit and Awiyao will consider reuniting with her. But that borders on literary overreaching.

Did Awiyao really love Lumnay? 

This is a question that comes up a lot. There are readers who theorize that Awiyao didn't really love Lumnay and that he is using the "no child" issue as a convenient excuse to ditch Lumnay and get a younger bride. Hmmm, maybe. It's definitely plausible. But the theory breaks down in the context of the story.

Photo by Daniel Ted C. Feliciano.

Morning in Nagrebcan by Manuel E. Arguilla (Short Story) - Literary Analysis

Very straightforward. That's how I would describe this well-known short story by Manuel E. Arguilla. The events in the story happen in one single morning in the rural village of Nagrebcan. The simplicity of the writing style reminds me of Ernest Hemingway's minimalistic prose. Arguilla's style was perfect in capturing the nuances of life in the barrio. If you grew up in the provinces, reading the story should hit you with a sense of nostalgia.

Here's a quick summary of the story:

It's morning in the village of Nagrebcan. A boy named Baldo got out of their house to play with their dog's puppies. He's soon joined by his younger brother Ambo. Ambo wanted to play with one particular black-spotted puppy but Baldo has claimed it as his own. He didn't allow Ambo to touch the puppy. An argument and a fight ensued. In the process, Ambo had his hand bit by the puppy they were fighting over. His hand started bleeding.

Hearing the commotion outside the house, the boys' father, Tang Ciaco looked out the window. He saw Ambo's bleeding hand and declared that the puppy has gone mad. He grabbed a piece of firewood, got out of the house, and started violently beating the puppy. He then turned his attention on his sons and started beating them as well.

The mother of the boys, Nana Elang, came for their rescue and brought them safely inside the house. The story ended with Nana Elang doing morning chores inside the house, with Tang Ciaco going to work. and with the two boys finding the dead puppy and giving it a much-needed burial.

Analysis

Morning in Nagrebcan is a slice-of-life story featuring a dysfunctional family. It features a particular morning in the lives of Baldo, Ambo, Nana Elang, and Tang Ciaco. I'd like to think that it's a deliberate social commentary by Arguilla on the often ignored presence of social violence among and within families in the provinces. A lot of people, especially those who grew up in urban areas, romanticize life in the barrio. In the beginning of the story, Arguilla does a bit of this romanticizing with his description of the surroundings as Nagrebcan welcomes the beautiful morning.

But just as the reader is starting to enjoy the countryside sceneries of bluish mists hugging tobacco fields and roosters strutting around, Arguilla hits him with a sudden wave of violence. Baldo and Ambo fight a proper fight. Their father beat them as if they don't deserve being his sons. He calls their mother a whore. 

Note that the story opens with an abundance of beauty and love. There's the beautiful description of the countryside. There's the mother dog being a big ball of love to its small puppies. There's Baldo playing with and kissing the puppies. The second act in the story is the unfolding of unimaginable violence. Violence that contrasts sharply with the setting of the story. The story ends with scenes of love and beauty. Baldo and Ambo settle their differences and went to bury the dead puppy. As they walk away from the makeshift grave, Baldo wraps an arm around his brother. The morning is warm and Nagrebcan is bathed in golden sunlight. It's as if something very violent and evil hasn't just transpired.

The cycle of violence is a main theme in the story. There's nothing surprising about brothers fighting because most brothers fight. But the way Baldo and Ambo go at each other borders on uncomfortable. There's more to it than just brothers fighting. We get an answer in the next scenes as they were beaten by their father. Why are the brothers so hard on each other when they fight? They learned from their father. Their father is violent on them so they are violent toward each other. 

It's obvious from the story that the beating the brothers got in that particular morning has occurred in the past. They've been through it before. Thus their reactions of fear when their father came down the house that morning.

Nana Elang is a main character in the story but she is almost treated like an outsider. She is always on the outskirts of the story - staring and observing and unable to do anything. This might be an indictment of the way women are treated in some Filipino communities. Nana Elang is without a doubt a loving mother and wife. But here she is being called a whore by her husband and feeling helpless as she watches her children get beat up by their own father.

I'll end this analysis with a few notes that a student reading the story can further attempt to explore:

1. Tiang Ciaco treats his sons like dogs. He beat his sons the way he beat the puppy. 

2. There's a reason why Arguilla used a motherly dog and a litter of puppies in the story. What could this reason be? 

3. Sometimes, dogs are better than human beings. Sometimes, dogs are better in taking care of their offspring than humans.

4. At the end of the story, there are scenes of beauty and love. There's Baldo wrapping an arm around his brother. There's the village being bathed in warm sunlight. Is this Arguilla's way of saying that at the end of the dark tunnel, there's light? That there's hope? That there's hope for Baldo and Ambo? That there's hope for their mother Nana Elang?

Landscape II by Carlos A. Angeles (Poem) - Literary Analysis

I have to admit, this poem is rather difficult to understand. After going through it a good number of times, I still can't come up with a coherent interpretation - one that would satisfy me. I seem to develop a different view of the poem with every reading. Maybe, that's the point of the poem. Maybe, that's what the poet intended.

I sent the poem to several of my literature-inclined friends, politely asking them what they think of it. The responses I received were varied, not-surprisingly. "Hindi ko type," says Melissa who is the most avid poem-lover of the bunch. "It's a poem with beautiful words but for the life of me, I don't know what the poet is talking about," says Rico, a political science professor. The poem had everyone confused and scratching their heads.

Googling the poem and reading what strangers thought about it didn't help either. Everyone has his/her own interpretation. But they all agree on one thing: Landscape II is a hard poem.

But allow me to offer my interpretation of the poem. This is the best one that I can come up with. I just want to throw it out there. I'm sure that if I read the poem again, this interpretation will need another review. I'm not going to do that.

Anyway, here's what I think of the poem:

I picture the speaker sitting on the beach watching the sun set in the horizon. The sky looks "knifed" and bleeding. We all know sunsets can be fiery and very red. He's alone and lonely so he has a heightened perception of what's going on around him. In the very first stanza, the speaker speaks of the "absence" of another person. His hands are "sad" which means he is mourning the "absence" of that person.

The second stanza contains further pronouncement of sadness, loneliness, and mourning. The speaker is looking at the clouds and the sky and having a feeling that they are mourning with him. That they are feeling his sadness. That they are one with his loneliness.

In the third stanza, the speaker reaches some sort of a breaking point. He was so engrossed with the heaviness in his heart that he felt ambushed when crickets started chirping near him. But he took this "sudden" intrusion as a sign that the crickets are mourning with him. They are there to "cry" with him. The sounds that the crickets are making remind him of the rustling sounds that the "absent" person's hair makes.

I was also curious as to why Angeles titled the poem Landscape II. My theory is that the title differentiates the kind of landscape described in the poem (Landscape II) from the kind of landscape that came before it (Landscape I). Landscape I is one where the speaker is looking at the horizon in the company of the person who is absent on Landscape II. In short, the landscape is naturally the same. But it takes another form when the speaker is looking at it without the company of the someone.

Another common source of debate about the poem is the type of loss or kind of mourning that the speaker is going through. Is he mourning the death of a loved one? Or is he mourning the loss of a loved one who didn't die but simply left? A former lover for example. Unfortunately, the poem is not very clear. So the type of loss referenced in it is very open to interpretation.

I have one last theory about the poem. The speaker is going through what I call mourning with anger or sadness with anger. If you read the poem, the speaker uses very strong words and phrases such as "knifed, bleeds, murdered, wreck, catacombs, darkened, stunted, sucked, dark basins, void of space, and ambushing". These may signify a sense of loss and loneliness with doses of anger and resentment. It's possible that the speaker lost someone in a manner that he completely regrets. Thus the resentment in the way he mourns.

Landscape II
by Carlos A. Angeles

Sun in the knifed horizon bleeds the sky
Spilling a peacock stain upon the sands,
Across some murdered rocks refused to die.
It is your absence touches my sad hands
Blinded like flags in the wreck of air.

And catacombs of cloud enshroud the cool
And calm involvement of the darkened plains,
The stunted mourners here: and here, a full
And universal tenderness which drains
The sucked and golden breath of sky comes bare.

Now, while the dark basins the void of space,
Some sudden crickets, ambushing me near,
Discover vowels of your whispered face
And subtly cry. I touch your absence here
Remembering the speeches of your hair.

Photo by Daniel Ted C. Feliciano.

Release Date Announced for Maria Ressa's New Book 'How to Stand Up to a Dictator'

In an update on her Facebook page, Maria Ressa - CEO and Executive Editor of Rappler - announced that her latest book will hit bookshelves next year: April 7, 2022. How to Stand Up to a Dictator: the Fight for Our Future will be published by Penguin. It will also contain a Foreword by Amal Clooney, a vocal ally of Ressa and an even more vocal critic of President Duterte. Whichever side of the fence you stand on with regards to Philippine politics, this book should be an interesting read. Here's to hoping that we'll get more spicy details on Duterte's War on Ressa (and Duterte's War on Press Freedom, for that matter).

For those who hasn't been following the Duterte-Ressa saga, there's a ton of articles about it online that you can access with a few keystrokes. If you aren't inclined to wade through the mess, I suggest you watch the Frontline documentary called A Thousand Cuts. I remember watching the documentary and thinking that it was a pretty accurate summation of the issue. Of course, it was made in collaboration with Ressa so bias in the storytelling process is definitely in there. Other than that, it's a good watch. And fair, I should add.

Here's the blurb for the book from the website of Penguin UK:

What will you sacrifice for the truth?

Maria Ressa has spent decades speaking truth to power. But her work tracking disinformation networks seeded by her own government, spreading lies to its own citizens laced with anger and hate, has landed her in trouble with the most powerful man in the country: President Duterte.

Now, hounded by the state, she has 10 arrest warrants against her name, and a potential 100+ years behind bars to prepare for - while she stands trial for speaking the truth.

How to Stand Up to a Dictator is the story of how democracy dies by a thousand cuts, and how an invisible atom bomb has exploded online that is killing our freedoms. It maps a network of disinformation - a heinous web of cause and effect - that has netted the globe: from Duterte's drug wars, to America's Capitol Hill, to Britain's Brexit, to Russian and Chinese cyber-warfare, to Facebook and Silicon Valley, to our own clicks and our own votes. Told from the frontline of the digital war, this is Maria Ressa's urgent cry for us to wake up and hold the line, before it is too late.

How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa