Poetry not for the weak-hearted

PUSUANON is the Bicolano word for “courageous." Ang Pusuanon: Mga Bersong Bikol of the enfant terrible of cotemporary Bikol writing, Kristian Sendon Cordero, is all about celebrating the life of a poet with a brave heart. This book was reprinted this year by Ateneo de Naga University Press. It was first published by Goldprint Publishing House of Naga City in 2007 and was declared finalist in the 27th National Book Award of the Manila Critics Circle and the National Book Development Board. Not yet 30, this is already Cordero’s third collection of poetry. The first one, Mga Tulang Tulala was published in 2004 and was awarded the Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book Award for 2006. The second one is Santigwar: Mga Rawitdawit sa Filipino asin Bikol (Santigwar: Poetry in Filipino and Bicol) that came out in 2006 and won the Tomas Arejola Award for Bicol Literature. As a poet, Cordero has mastered the use of ironic humor. In his poem that utilizes the metaphor beautifully, Kansyon (Song, page 104), the persona likened sorrow to a malicious insect: “Nag-agi an kamundoan / na garo malisyosong insekto. / Daing pakpak, alagad naglalayog / gamit an sampulong sungoy. / Aatamanon ko ini / kaya dinakop ko tanganing sana ako / kagaton sangkod kalinturahon." (Sorrow passed by / like a malicious insect. / Wing-less it flew / by its ten horns. / I caught it to make it my pet, / so it would sting me / and make me feverish. – Translation by M.L. Kilates) But the insect weakens when it bites the persona, who decides to set it free and maliciously prays that it will visit his beloved. “Ngonyan bubutasan ko na / an sakuyang kamundoan--/ kun magdyan ini saimo / ta nagsusungko, / bahugon mo man. / Puso mo gayod / an pigsususog kanini." (Now I must let go / of my sorrow--/ if it pays you a visit, / would you feed it, please. / It must have found its way / to your heart.) Reading this piece I cannot help but recite in my mind the poem “The Flea" by John Donne. Cordero’s use of the image of the insect reminded me of how Donne employs the image of the flea that bites the male persona in his poem; it bites the beloved of the persona and so the poem concludes that they are already married inside the body of the tiny flea, for their blood have mixed there. Critics call this an extended metaphor or the “conceit" of metaphysical poets such as Donne. Kristian Cordero is not named “Christian" and a “lamb" for nothing. His latest collection, just like his two earlier books, are filled with Biblical allusions. An example is his poem Paghukom (Judgment Day, page 119). It opens with an epigraph from the mystic poet St. John of the Cross: “At the end of your life, you will be judged on the basis of love." Love, of course, is the first and the last theme of a poet, according to National Artist Rolando S. Tinio. Theologians speak of two kinds of love: “agape" or heavenly love, and “eros" or romantic love. When we speak of mystic poetry, it should be about agape. But what if the delineation between agape and eros is blurred in poetry? This is the Kristian Cordero brand of poetry! Or maybe Kristian is simply following the tradition of the mystics. When we read the poems of St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Avila, and even the Muslim poet Rumi, their verses celebrating their love for God or Allah, whom they call the “beloved," borders on eroticism. Perhaps both agape and eros in their purest form is one and the same thing. Let us listen to the first stanza of Paghukom: Minamawot kong matapos na an kinaban ngonyan mismo / tanganing matapos naman an pagkamoot ko saimo. / Hukoman na ako, sukulon kun maninigo akong maglabog / sa disyertong pano nin palmeras o sa bukid na niyebe an alituktok. (I long for the world to end right now / so my love for you would end too. Judge me now, / measure me if I am worthy to enter the desert / lush with palms, or climb the mountains topped with snow. Trans. M.L. Kilates) Is the persona, or Kristian Cordero the mystic, addressing a supreme lover or an earthly one? Why is the poem talking about ending everything and ending love? Or maybe the persona is speaking in “tongues of fire," just like the prophets in Biblical times who were inspired by God. The second and third stanzas are talking about “rain of fire burning the brain to a crisp," of “water flooding and drowning the mountains and the heart." The poem ends with these two lines: Ta tibaad sa pagtapos, mahihiling mong daing ibang maninigo / sa pagpadangat na ini, ta kun bako ika, marhay pang mayo. (So perhaps in the end you will know no one else / is worth this love, that, if not you, better none at all.) Here we will conclude that indeed, the persona is talking about heavenly love and is addressing the Christian God. It is but fitting that “Paghukom" closes this collection of poems. Pusuanon is a very good collection of poetry. It is not only for people with brave hearts, but also for readers with sharp minds. - YA, GMANews.TV J.I.E. TEODORO is an assistant professor of Filipino at Miriam College. He has won several Palanca awards for his writings and a National Book Award for creative nonfiction from the Manila Critics Circle and the National Book Development Board. He holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from De La Salle University-Manila.