haiku chatters

Here goes…

Abring (a.k.a Gabby to non-Varrons), as always, is true to his playful soul with this tongue-twister:

pumatak
pumutak
pumutok
pumatok

but he can be dead serious when he wants to:

langis at mitsa sa baso
handang magdulot ng ilaw
sa darating na araw

which, incidentally, he was inspired to write while offering prayers and lighted candles to his departed beloved last All Souls’ Day.

There is also Norvie’s take on why anyone would insist on anything at all:

Ang pwede
ay pwede
pero di pwede
ang di pwede

and had all the gutsy innocence to inquire: “Vro, Haiku din kaya yan?”

Sometime later, probably upon gathering his wits, he betrayed his true profession with the lines:

Variation in panicles
Bountiful harvest
Eaten by rats

Mae quipped with delight – “Masaya nga … more please!” I could imagine her jumping and clapping with excitement, as she waited with bated breath for the string of words that slowly flowed out of her email inbox. Obviously, she was not disappointed. Bert, who claims to be “not an expert on haiku”, but just an “appreciator”, willingly obliged with a romantic piece:

Under the taut skin
of a borrowed umbrella —
First kiss

Somehow, contrary to the hesitation, tension and innocence that the lines convey, I picture two fumbling adolescents with their faces all wet and messy!

In another more PG13 piece, he turned whimsical:

colored popsicles
the children
compared tongues

Apparently, his later verse:

hard rain
no cloud
could have held it

piqued one Varron’s curiosity: “What could be that ‘it’?” Which, interestingly, was qualified by a Beloved Sis (writers and artist are mum on the essence of their work): “. . . it’s like suppressed feelings . . . for the sake of your sanity, you just have to let that person know. Your heart is so miniscule to contain a feeling so big, so intense, so passionate, so sincere, so ah basta!Ibubulalas mo kasi sasabog na ang dibdib mo! Hayyyy …” Again, I could just imagine her, complete with theatrics!

Mon chewed on the bitter reality that is Philippine politics:

Eighty seven million fools
Led by a pretender queen
Bought friends cheer, a few just whine

with an interesting variant of the same from Dennis:

Eighty seven million pairs
Came brown eyes in the theater
The wise saw circus

Dennis also paid tribute to the National Hero with this Rizal verse:

Bilin na liham
Sapatos at lampara
Huling paalam

and even translated in Spanish his own English obra maestra The Music / La Musica:

forlorn waves carry stories and songs unheard from the weary sea while wind chimes vibrate unmarried sounds of music from seawind passing

las ondas abandonadas llevan las historias y las canciones no escuchadas del cansado mar mientras los carillones de viento vibran sonidos solteros de la música pasa la brisa de mar

Aware of his previous sojourn in the Land of the Rising Sun, I was expecting something more Japanese. The pen of Loids, the lone sis who joined the creative fray, drips with a glint of hope:

Hush, don’t fear
A promise . . .
After the rain

Nostalgia for and a future resolve to return back, even in death, to one’s birthland is the theme of the quadruplet Ang Tapon contributed by Tony, who reminded the e-group that he is living not “Down Under” in Australia but ‘Up Above’ in Canada right now:

Bayang iniwan
Laging ninanais balikan
Kahit man lang sa libingan
Matabunan ng lupang tinubuan

We feel the heartwarming and pragmatic wisdom of the passing years in Terry’s words:

Hate – people seek to kill
Love – people seek to heal
Love/hate – let’s make a deal

Let bloom the rose in the forest of our sight
Let boom the voice in the realm of our quiet

He, however, can turn comical, as with this fragment derived from “a poetry jousting – like balagtasan – between oldtimers in Bohol long time ago”:

Kuridong maka-iibog Paglabay ko sa kakugnan Dunay kabaw nga nangitlog

A desirable riddle When I passed by a cogon patch A carabao laying eggs

Roly also caught up with a Cebuano/Visayan piece:

Haiku kuno ni sa pulong lisod sabton dili mapuslan

Haiku is it in words incomprehensible useless

which elicited a gentle admonition from Bert that it would better to write not about haiku per se but just to write one. We sense the wonders of the night and the acceptance of what a day brings in Manny’s little jewels:

it comes it goes
it’s but another day
of solitude

I could understand the exasperation of Neneng with the rigidity and discipline of the number of syllables required “…Haaayy na Kuuhh di ako makacompose ng Haiku ko.” But she deserves an A for persistence “.. but am still trying”.

Whether haiku or not, I am happy that several Varrons had put time and effort to squeeze out their creative juices to the last drop. Let me end these mutterings with what (non)haiku can possibly do for you; hopefully, the same way it did for Manny when he wrote:

your haikus a day
bring joy to the weary soul
pleasantly surprised