"Ang Pangamba ng Makatang Nakapiit at Di-Makasulat ng Tula" (Axel Pinpin)

The Predicament of a Poet Incarcerated and Unable to Write a Poem

If the poetry-maker is dream,
his illusions are well-versed in that routine,
in half-sleep the dream is alive, resting
between freshness of memories
and nearness to truth of colors,
                 scurries,
                     scurrilous verses,
                         versed songs.
The colors of his hopes are singing.

But the poetry-maker is not dream,
the poet awakens in chains,
                                                   in haste
to escape the pull of hiss-hitch-heat
which dissects the pith of fury and hate,
the fitfulness to truth of techniques,
                 tactics,
                     counter-magic,
                         praxis and tricks.
The geometry of his experience is practical.

August 20, 2006



- translated from Filipino, from Axel Pinpin's Tugmaang Matatabil (Southern Voices Printing Press, 2008)