What Is Poetry, Really?

I'm not a poet. But I was one of those people who thought writing gibberish lines echoing depths of emotion could qualify as poetry, even more so, if those gibberish lines rhyme.

Then, I went to college and became an English major.

Before, I really didn't have any idea that most poems written by students in high school and grade school qualified as bad poetry. Almost everyone had the same idea of what poetry should be: highfalutin, barely incomprehensible words mashed together, exuding a sense of mystery and presumed genius in every line written.

But a couple of teachers really opened my eyes to what worthwhile poetry is all about. In one class, Sir Don had impressed upon me a cardinal rule in poetry writing: Imagery is everything ( Or so he implied. I'm just condensing everything he's taught in a sentence). In other words, if I can't see something in reading a poem's lines, then that poem might as well be rubbish. A poem, after all, must appeal to the eyes, concretizing abstract concepts and thoughts to realistic images in the mind.

I recall an instance in Sir Ed's class when he wasn't impressed by my prose. It was an essay writing exercise and I was supposed to describe a place. I thought I nailed that one until he gave me a solid "average" mark. The reason? I kept using the adjective "beautiful". And beautiful, no matter how many times one uses it, doesn't evoke any imagery at all. It's a worthless word that doesn't draw the mind to anything in particular. In poetry, words such as these shouldn't have a place.

Another thing poetry should have is a double-meaning. Simply put, you're saying one thing but you're saying another. It's that fascinating quality that makes reading poetry quite delicious and all of the beautiful poems thrive in such dual, even multiple meanings.

I guess there are other factors to consider when judging what is poetry and what is not. Supposedly, there is the acknowledgment of structure, the careful diction, the sound of the words, all of which determine in part the quality of a poem.

But as for me, these are but minor affects. For a miasma of words to be considered a poem, it only must have the two qualities I described above.

And that, my dear friends, is what I think a poem must have.

Text Messages 20

In life, we are given two gifts:
One is choice and the other is chance.
The choice of a good life and the chance to make it the best.
Ate Cathy, April 20, 2010

Good friends are those care without hesitations, who remember without limitations, and who remain the same even without communication.
Mary Ann Andicoy, April 22, 2010

Sometimes, we find ourselves feeling incomplete, longing for something we cannot explain. And we are caught in the middle going anywhere. Weird isn't it? But that's the beauty of being human. It is knowing that there is a purpose for each existence and whatever that may be, it is also the reason why we still wake up breathing each day to discover the missing piece of the puzzle that would make our lives complete. Reserve a reason to smile, always.
Mark Salazar, April 29, 2010

Nanay: Wow, ang sipag ng anak ko. Mabuti yan, nagtatanim ka. Bakit mo naman naisip na magtanim sa harap ng bahay natin?
Anak: A huge wave of zombies is approaching.
Edwin Gutierrez, April 30, 2010

Lalaki: Yaw na paghilak. Andam ko manubag sa mahitabo nato. Adto ta sa inyo. Mananghid ta magpakasal.
Babae: Maayo lagi untag mosugot akong bana!
Edwin Gutierrez, May 1, 2010

Tongue Lung is a word used to tell a person to wait on a particular place.
Example: Bai, tongue lung kay sunduon tika gawas sa inyo gate ha? Tongue lung didto ha?
Edwin Gutierrez, May 5, 2010

Anak: Tay, tingnan mo abs ko. 6 pack yan, 'tay!
Tatay: Wow! Machong macho anak ko ha! Nag-gigym ka ba?
Anak: Hindi 'tay...Belly dancing po!
Edwin Gutierrez, May 5, 2010

Girl: Ang pagmamahal ko sa iyo ay parang Lady's Choice.
Boy: Wow! Talaga? Bakit?
Girl: Isipin mo na lang meron pa.
Edwin Gutierrez, May 5, 2010

Boy: Hulog ka ba ng langit?
Girl: Saba jah! Karaan na kaayo nang linyaha.
Boy: Nalumping man gud imong nawong.
Dili lagi mag-assume.
Edwin Gutierrez, May 5, 2010

Dabawenyo nisakay ug jeep.
Nibayad.
Few minutes,
Pasahero: Manong, change?
Driver: Change? What for? We have the best!
Edwin Gutierrez, May 8, 2010

Boy: Kabalo ka mura kag electric fan?
Girl: Kabalo nako ana. Kay ako lagi ang naghatag ug hangin sa imong kinabuhi?
Boy: Baga kag nahong. Mura kag electric fan kay hanginun kaayo ka!
Edwin Gutierrez, May 8, 2010

Naiisip mo bang naiisip ko B1?
Ang bastos mo B2!
Edwin Gutierrez, May 8, 2010

Of Filipino Inventors

Haay. The Pinoy inventors. A very gifted yet very underappreciated lot.

Sometimes, some inventors do strike it big. They perfect a product, build a company around it, and get rich ( like some of those entrepreneurs featured in the Gonegosyo book). Others however are not quite fortunate; their products never get off the drawing board. Still others become uncomfortable success stories. They perfect a product and sell it to a foreign company and get rich in the process.

The third group is the most interesting of them all. They become, literally, midnight millionaires. But there is always that nagging feeling that what these inventors simply did was shortchange themselves. Why is that so?

In the movie "Flash of Genius", there was a scene where Robert Kearns, the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper, was approached by Ford officials and offered a $30 million settlement. Kearns was embroiled in a patent infringement suit against Ford and was trying to prove to the jury that he was the rightful inventor of the wiper. In the end, he declined the settlement, won the case, vindicated himself, and received a hefty amount of cash for damages incurred.

In the actual story, when he won his cases against Ford and Chrysler, Kearns received less money as compensation from those cases compared to what he could have received had he accepted Ford's settlement. But at least he got the title as the product's inventor, an intangible reward which is undoubtedly priceless.

"Settling" for a settlement parallels what some Pinoy inventors are doing. Bereft of government support, some are simply selling off their ideas to the highest bidder. Of course, such a move is completely understandable but I don't think it's in the best interest of the inventor to do that.

Consider this. In this situation, there are always two choices. For instance, Mr. Juan can either sell his idea or product to Company XYZ for five million pesos. Or he can partner with Company XYZ to manufacture and market his product and get five pesos for every item sold. Definitely, the first option is a safe and sweet deal and, besides, five million is still five million. But, the second option, however risky, is also immensely more rewarding than the first.

Nowadays, such a model actually exists. The book "The Risk-Free Entrepreneur" by Don Debelak details such an arrangement where the average man can play with the big boys and not feel robbed. The arrangement usually consists of a marketer, a manufacturer, and the guy (or gal) with the idea. The manufacturer manufactures the product and the marketer distributes it to the market but it is the "idea person" which makes such an arrangement possible. He is the catalyst of the whole process, the one who brings the two companies to work together to bring to reality a product that he has envisioned. As his reward, he gets a portion of the profits from sales of his brainchild. In this kind of arrangement, selling your idea is frowned upon ( because, to put it frankly, why would you settle for five million pesos when you can possibly earn more than just that if you put in the extra work?).

Unfortunately, most Pinoy inventors go with the easier route. It's simpler to sell off your idea than work out a mutually beneficial relationship with a behemoth. Inventors themselves can be the world's worst businessmen.

Maybe, if I'm lucky, I can start a company which focuses on marketing Pinoy inventions without shortchanging the inventor. In the meantime, I hope those poor guys take business courses once in a while.

Rich Or Poor

Are you rich or poor? How do you know you are one of either?

For that question, I got one answer from a journalist. In his speech, Tongues on Fire, delivered before the French Business Association of the Philippines last April 24, 2001 ( and documented in the book 20 Speeches That Moved A Nation), Conrado De Quiros pointed out the fundamental difference between the haves and the have-nots.

In the speech, he mentions two events that utterly described "what being poor really meant-or conversely, what being rich really meant." The first event talks about a meeting between various parties, from the NGO to the academe down to the bankers and the experts, which was convened for the sole purpose of putting up a foundation which aimed to strengthen local government units. Everyone in the whole group was optimistic about their proposed endeavor. Each problem was quickly addressed by someone in the group who had ties to someone who could help or endorse. Clearly, every problem had a solution; nothing was insurmountable.

De Quiros contrasted this with a story of a man who murdered his entire family. This man had labored long and hard to get food on the table, doing every job possible for his family to survive. And finally, when everything just didn't go his way, he found a way to end his suffering and his family's.

As what De Quiros points out later in the speech, "To be rich is to be replete with possibility. To be rich is to know that nothing is impossible. To be rich is to know that you can go around any obstacle, go under or over any obstacle, go through any obstacle. It is to know that when you want money, you can lay your hands on it. It is to know that when you need people, you can get in touch with them. It is to know that when you want something done, you can get it done."

On the other hand, he says, "To be poor...is to be assailed by impossibility. It is to be thwarted at every turn by the improvident hand of man or God-or fate. It is to have obstacle after obstacle put in your path until you no longer see the goal, until you no longer know there is a goal, until you learn only to toil to get past the obstacle you wake up to each day at the crack of dawn. It is quite literally to have no one to turn to."

In alleviating poverty in the country, the natural response would be, of course, to help the poor get back on their feet. This starts from the feeding programs and progresses to a housing initiative organized by the public sector then finally to the projects devoted to finding and developing sustainable livelihood programs for the beneficiaries.

But the greater challenge in all this would be to let the poor dream again, to bestow to someone the ability to be optimistic of one's future. Being rich, after all, as what De Quiros points out, doesn't start with one's material possessions, but is, in fact, a state of the mind. Unfortunately, that's something that doesn't have clear solutions to begin with. To bestow and nurture that mentality among the poor - to dream of a better life and to expand someone's reality - continues to be the main task of any self-proclaimed philanthropist.

Whoa

It happens, it happens.

I was riding on the front bench of a jeep on the way home when a theft occurred. We were at the Dacudao flyover, waiting for the green light, I was there blankly staring at the road ahead when a woman at the back gave a shriek, "Kawatan! Kawatan!"

When we all glanced at the back, at the woman, the burglar was long gone. That was fast, uncannily fast.

Afterwards, the woman kept cursing at the person who stole her cellphone and was trying to appear nonchalant at the loss, convincing the other passengers that the phone was a very old phone and the burglar would probably not profit from it as much as he'd hoped.

Still, that incident pretty much unnerved all of us and I endured the rest of the trip, clutching at the zipper of my bag, eyeing the girl on the right suspiciously.

Other stories I've heard of were more fortunate. One of this was concerning Corinne, a colleague at work, who shared her own story during a lunch break. She was sitting in the jeep when she couldn't help but feel the guy beside her fumbling with something under his bag and hers. That alarmed her and she brought the attention of everyone to her by saying something ( which, for the life of me, I cannot remember. Jeesh.). That might have broken the will of the would-be perpetrator and the man, whoever he was, fled the scene by riding off the jeep.

It happens, it happens.