Vaun, 8

This is the companion piece to "Vaun, 21", which I posted two days ago. This was published in MGA KANTA NI DATU LUBAY, 2003.

You asked me what circumcision was,

And I told you the doctor cuts the foreskin.

You frowned and said it hurts,

And looked at me, waiting for confirmation.

Of course, it hurts. It's painful

Like all manner of cutting.

It was painful for a tree when you cut

Its branches with that sword you fashioned

Out of bamboo sticks.

It was the pain you felt when you cut your finger

With Nanay's kitchen knife, trying to sharpen

The tip of an arrown with which to shoot

Lola's santol. You cried, didn't you?

Though not exactly the same way I cried

Looking at Tatay on his deathbed

That first morning of May.

You looked at me, wondering.

Because it was painful too.

Something was being cut, being lost.

But that pain we could bear.

And you asked me why boys needed

To be circumcised. I don't know.

I did not ask Tatay when he took me

To the hospital for this ritual men imposed

Upon themselves. I am sure he wouldn't hve

Known the answer. They say it is for us

To stay clean, though it's only the tip of us

That's trimmed. (I don't really believe this,

Because once we expose our heads, the more

We become impure.)

They say it makes us a man. Maybe

It is for boys to feel the pain of becoming men.

So when time comes when we lose our fathers,

We could bear the pain.

It is like sticking up our necks, all right.

Now that Tatay's gone,

You are not only my brother,

But also my son.

Ang gusto ko sa lalaki

Bukut bahul anang ulo, nga kaangay kang lobo

Kon kang mga pagdayaw ginahuyupan ko;

Malabug anang pisi, bukut lang anang pisot,

Para may panghigot sa gamo nga mapudyot.

Kamaan maghibi sa kasubu kag kabudlay,

Bagnas ang pagharakhak kon kami ‘gakalipay.

Nagabato sa sipal, bisan sa sunloganay,

Kag ginabaton man ako, pananglit magkulang;

Malapad kag matibsol anang braso kag dughan,

Nga daw nagalinog kon kami ang mag-kuwan;

Dungan kami magsalum kon sa mga problema,

Dungan man nga magbutwa, ‘galagas kang ginhawa.

Dungan kami magturog, dayon nga magahandum

Kang pagbagtik kang asin sa mga dughan namun.

Vaun, 21

Wara run ikaw it mga pamangkot

Tungud naubos mo run ka pakut

Ang mga sabat sa imong hunahuna.

Sa imong pagsulud sa departure area

Daw may naghapon nga kaluya,

Angay kang nagaisarahanun nga maya.

Malupad ikaw nga dara gid lang

Ang mga hopya nga bilin ni Nanay,

Kag ang kaugan kang mga tinaga

Kang amun pagpalangga.

Ayhan kon sarang lang ibaruron

Namun sa imong maleta

Ang mga hakus kag haruk

Nga nagkulang sa imong paghamtung

Agud ipabatyag kanimo

Nga ang atun nga pagburugto

Indi makilala sa atun dugo,

Kundi sa atun pag-irimaway

Sa nagarinapta nga balay:

Si Neneng mo sa California,

Si Cheche rugto sa Florida,

Si Inday rugto sa Malaysia,

Si Nenet sa Saudi Arabia.

Ayhan rugto sa Amerika

Makita mo ang kanimo gin-aman,

Hay rugto man nagahulat si Nanay

Nga nagatipon kang panimalay

Paagi sa cellphone, Forex

Kag balikbayan box,

Facebook, email kag text.

Mangin lubos ang pag-iririmaw

Sa atun pagbulag kadya nga adlaw.

Layaw para kay Datu Lubay

Now it can be told because I have received the confirmation letter from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. I got a grant to translate six of my stories into Filipino. The six are:

1. Alot (Haircut). This is about coming home and finding out that everyone you knew has gone, except for your barber. An unexpected haircut becomes a metaphor for cutting off your relationship/s.

2. Ang Sastre (The Tailor). The village tailor dies, and everyone was waiting for his only son so they could bury him. But the whole village could only whisper their shock when the son arrives as a woman in red dress, with a bouquet of black paper roses.

3. Abyan (Friend). Three friends tell their own tale of a friendship that they didn't notice was falling apart.

4. Gugma sa Bangkok (Love in Bangkok). Exploring the labyrinth of a bath house in Bangkok, a traveler falls in love with a stranger, a Bangkok boy who buys him red roses from a Suan Plu market. No one has ever done that for him before.

5. Library. The school library opens. There is a program, with guests from the capital town. The school children perform for them, but only the teachers and guests are let inside the library for the reception. The excited school children peer from the wooden windows.

6. Imelda. Imelda buries her husband, who left her nothing but a small plot for vegetables. In the evening and she lies down on the bamboo floor, she listens to the chicken in their coop, and feels for the first time a sense of joy and freedom.

These stories shall be published next year in a bilingual edition. Stories 1-4 have been published in my book "Agi, agi may putay sa dahi" while stories 5 & 6 are new. Am excited to finish Binirayan 2010 and start on the translation.

"Tumaka" in Silay City

Just after its premier during the Karay-a Arts Festival 3, we got an invitation to perform "Tumaka" in Silay City. The occasion was Padayon One Visayas!; we were to be part of the cultural night sponsored by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. So off we went, this time with even fewer actors! (You know how it is to be a travelling troupe, and the expenses it entails.)

For this edition, we added a scene. That's after the suggestion by Cecile Locsin Nava, who watched the performance in San Jose. She would like to see a scene to show how Maria was swept by Tumaka's charm. We devised this scene overnight, just before we left San Jose for the 3AM trip to Iloilo. We wanted it to be a quiet love scene, with only Tumaka speaking, offering her something to eat (first, a banana which she refused), but Maria just kept looking at him until the last part where she tells Tumaka she is hungry and would love to eat anything. Tumaka offered her balinghoy (cassava root), which of course, is a phallic symbol.

Perico Pikoy (played by moi!), as usual stole the show, with his balletics and eclectic dance movements. So perhaps, I shall give the role to someone else next time. That would give me more chances to watch the play entirely so we could keep improving it to perfection.

We performed at the century-old mansion Balay Negrense, with no less than Governor Sally Perez of Antique, Mayor Oti Montelibano of Silay, Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento of Calbayog City and some of Silay and Bacolod's culturati in the audience. The play was well received by the elite audience, despite it's risque material. We believe the play will get more genuine appreciation, as it did during the KAF3 at the EBJ Freedom Park, from the general public (read: masa audience), when we tour it to the towns. I hope we could get enough support to tour the play.

Hiraya's new play

Hiraya Theater Company premieres its new play at the closing ceremony of Karay-a Arts Festival 3 at the EBJ Freedom Park on Sunday, 25 October at 7:00 PM.

The play "Ang pagtaban ni Tumaka kay Maria Katsila" is based on a Pandanon legend about an Ati tribal chief in Mt. Mab-o who outwits the Spanish governor by running away with the taxes collected from Ibajay and the governor's wife Maria. The play follows a series of zany encounters as the the Spaniard tries to get back with his wife, until he succumbs to heart attack and public humiliation. I used folk and traditional music to enhance the mood, starting with a komposo to introduce the central character. Period music in Spanish from Guillermo Gomez Rivera's CD "Nostalgia Filipina" proved especially useful to connect the scenes. "Flor Filipina" (track 8) was interpreted in the love scene/dance number between Tumaka and Maria, while "Mariposa Bella" (track 9), the predecessor of "Paru-parong Bukid" was interpreted with Ati dances and shouts at the finale, while the Ati scenes were identified with "Abaw tiyo Andoy, inum tuba laloy."

The play stars Mclaurence Saligumba as Tumaka, Jean Matias as Maria, and Richard Salameda as Governor Puentes, supported by the Hiraya ensemble.

KAF 3

Despite low budget and all, the Karay-a Arts Festival 3 will finally push through on October 23-25.. This year's edition looks like a theater festival with student theater groups participating. Teatro San Antonio of St. Anthony's College is staging my "Pagtimalus ni Kapinangan" with Cyruss Matencio directing; Maskara Theater Ensemble of University of St. La Salle has Dennis Teodosio's "Pobreng Alindanaw"; and Kanlaon Theater Guild has Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero's classic "Away Basketbol" (Basketball Fight). Meanwhile, Hiraya Theater Company will open the festival with the komedya "Ang Kapid" on October 23rd, and closes it with it's new production "Ang pagtaban ni Tumaka kay Maria Katsila on October 25th.

Hiraya's new production is so much fun to do despite lack of actors. I get to act too, as a parrot, and my costume is exciting.

Also joining the festival are Polytechnic State College of Antique's Teatro Antiqueño and PSCA Chorale, Gawad Manlilikha ng Bayan Federico Caballero, and the indigenous peoples organizations of Antique.