Becoming a grass will battle on its existence

despite existing everywhere, becomes cognizant.   A Man that Loves (Attempt o f a Sonnet) (9)Go to the mountains, bury your desire,seek your fortune under a midsummer sky,get up and greet the rays of the sun,you’ll have bounty of hopes and handful of blessings.Either you save your love’s honor or lie in a coffinwhere nobody mourns for you,or please her family and give thousands of goldor suffer the rose’s thornswhen you pick for her to admire you.Give attention to the stars at nightwhen you’ve decided you’ll ran off without her,or listen to the chirping of the birds under the shade of the tree.You’ll never know life without experiencing it without love,because love exists when you think it doesn’t.    My Purse (Haiku) (10)My old coin purse falls;It bursts a thousand gold coins,Embraces the floor               

The speaker of the poem recalls that he had once a dream but he couldn’t recapture the entire dream so he wrote a poem about it. So he came up with this poem.

In the first paragraph it describes that Kubla Khan build a stately palace, encompassing sixteen miles of plain ground with a wall. This alludes to the historical Kublai Khan who founded the Mongol dynasty in China in the 13^th century.  There, it describes the location of the dome. The image like sacred river ran is talking about nature where the dome is located. It talks about nature with a powerful sense of movement. It follows the progress of the river Alph in order to focus on a violent natural force beyond the palace walls.

The succeeding paragraph tells that nature is alive. This holy place (dome) is described as always “haunted by woman wailing for her demon lover”. Kubla Khan is revealed that he participate military expeditions to Iowa and Japan where he met his disaster. The image like “a sunny pleasure dome with caves of ice!” tells that nature in this poem is supernatural. Compared to Wordsworth, Coleridge describes nature as calm, tranquil and realistic while Coleridge describes nature as dangerous, savage and supernatural. These descriptions are evident on this poem.

In the last paragraph, He creates the persona of a poet because he’s writing a poem about the vision. The poet remembers a vision that he once saw an Abyssinian maid who plays a dulcimer, “singing of Mount Abora”. This vision zooms what’s the inside of the dome. He’s talking about his art. The artist should go through “that sunny dome! Those caves of ice!” which means an artist should go through fire and water. “And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware!” means that his art should have an audience but at the same it warns that art is transformative and deceitful.  Transformative means that there is a war between art and society. The last lines of the poem imply that there’s an act of reverence and fear to the artist “For he on honeydew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.”

Look how the green grasses

compete with each other’s existence.

Its blades are sharp almost hurting

each other’s thin leaf when the wind

blows away the hungry praying mantis.

But in the earth’s healthy perspective,

worries no more to be emptied,

for grasses exist even in dry or wet lands.

Grasshoppers feed to liken it from the grasses

in its ubiquitousness it can be envied.

At night, when the sun rest its rays,

the grasses talk about their colleagues,

talk about insects of shooing them away

For their leaves are fragile it limp.

they worry about their relatives

Wither every time the sky screams and cries.

But they want to grow more

spread its vastness across the earth’s limitation,

even when dogs trot, they slap its dirty feet

to prevent it from pissing.

Becoming a grass will battle on its existence

despite existing everywhere, becomes cognizant.

]]> http://tazi.wordpress.com/2008/02/06/ubiquitousness/feed/ 1 tazi http://tazi.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/the-aged-lover-renounceth-love/ http://tazi.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/the-aged-lover-renounceth-love/#comments Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:24:08 +0000 tazi http://tazi.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/the-aged-lover-renounceth-love/ ]]>

Day1:

From the title itself, it says that someone with an old age gives up for love because as I have said, he is old enough and used to loving the person. In the first four lines, it started with negating the idea that he had loved her (the person he “once” loved). He dislikes the idea that he did love her. As we go along the lines, he describes himself who has already gray hairs upon his head. Age had torn him with his crutch. The wrinkles in his eyebrows and furrows in his face suggest that his youth is replaced of age. In fact, he is going to die because the harbinger of death, one that brings pickaxe and a spade would obtain the shrouding sheet. He can hear the knell that bids him to leave his work. His youth must give up because he’s already old.

Day2:

To continue, “stooping age” shall pull the youthful years and with that he is unable to love her anymore because in any time, he’ll be dead. From this poem, it tells us two things—it’s either the speaker becomes upset with the idea that he’s getting old that is why he renounced love, or he uses the idea of being old to escape from the idea that the woman he loves had left him. From the description of his own appearance to the idea of death suggest that he sees the present appearance of his face. Even the mention of “crutch” tells us that he is now invalid. It understates the idea of being unable to do anything but to pity himself for being old. However, the tone of the poem doesn’t directly tell you that he is saddened by the idea that he is now old, but rather tells you that he is calm. The way he describes himself is even proof that he is not lonely. But because of the things he mentioned, such as “harbinger of death”, “pickaxe and a spade”, “shrouding sheet”, these tell us that in light tone, ironically he is able to portray the emotions that he is trying to evoke to the readers.

Go to the mountains, bury your desire,

seek your fortune under a midsummer sky,

get up and greet the rays of the sun,

you’ll have bounty of hopes and handful of blessings.

Either you save your love’s honor or lie in a coffin

where nobody mourns for you,

or please her family and give thousands of gold

or suffer the rose’s thorns

when you pick for her to admire you.

Give attention to the stars at night

when you’ve decided you’ll ran off without her,

or listen to the chirping of the birds under the shade of the tree.

You’ll never know life without experiencing it without love,

because love exists when you think it doesn’t.

]]> http://tazi.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/struggle-of-a-man-who-loves-attempt-of-sonnet/feed/ 1 tazi http://tazi.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/poem-for-the-week/ http://tazi.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/poem-for-the-week/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2007 07:39:50 +0000 tazi http://tazi.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/poem-for-the-week/ ]]> My love

Is like the grassesHidden in the deep mountain:

Though its abundance increases,

There’s none that knows. 

                                                                                                                                -Ono No Yoshiki

 Day 1:This poem is short but it tells a lot about a person who loves someone but he cannot express his feeling towards her. He compares it with grasses that are hidden in the deep mountain. Just like saying that he really hides the feelings of his. It increases all the time but nobody knows that he loves someone. The speaker is actually not clear. We can say that the speaker is either a man who loves a particular woman or a woman who loves a particular man.  

 Day 2:

The speaker of the poem is not clear. The poem is about a person who loves someone. He/She describes his/her love like the hidden grasses in the deep mountain that nobody would try to reach. With this comparison, the speaker is saying that nobody will have the chance to discover his/her feelings. His/Her love increases but nobody knows about that except him/her.  

Day 3:

Let’s assume that the speaker is a man who loves a woman but he cannot tell it to her because he wants the woman to discover it by herself. The speaker’s feeling for that woman is hidden in the deep part of his heart. It increases every time he sees the woman. Nobody knows about his love except himself. He compares it to the grasses where we can say that his love never dies. But when it dies, it grows fast. 

 Day 4:

The five-line poem is about a person who is talking about his love. It’s like the grasses that were hidden in a deep mountain. He’s telling us that once he loves a person, nobody will know it because it’s hidden. Though it increases, still nobody knows about that love. He doesn’t show his love but he let that person to feel it by herself.  

Day 5:

This poem is a sad poem written by a Japanese poet. It’s about how a person loves. He compares it with the grasses that were hidden in the deep mountains. It means that he doesn’t show when he loves a person. He never tells it to anybody. He keeps it as a secret. Though it increases or it grows everyday, the more people won’t notice it. He hides it as long as he can. Like grasses, it grows fast even without water. It grows by itself.

It bursts a thousand gold coins,

Embraces the floor.

my beloved, in your delights!

Like  a palm tree, you are stately

and like its clusters are your breasts.

I said, “I will climb the palm tree

and take hold of its fruits.”

May your breasts be clusters of the vine,

your breath sweet-scented as apples,

and your mouth like the best wine.

Day 1:

The speaker of the poem is a man who admires a lovely woman. This woman is the person whom he really loves. The speaker describes how impressive her body is. He describes her like a palm tree that has impressive breasts. Eventhough palm trees are difficult to climb to, he’d still climb on it and will take hold of its fruits. The speaker wishes that may those fruits become his. The speaker is intensely admiring the woman and he desires for her. He repeats that her breasts are impressive and he wishes that may her breasts be clusters of vine. I think the speaker and the woman in the poem has a relationhip. I can say so because of the last two lines. The speaker had already tasted the woman’s mouth because he describes it as the best wine and her breath  as sweet-scented apples. They have actually kissed and with that assumption, I would say that they are lovers.#

Day 2:

The speaker is a male who admires someone which is impossible to become his lover. He’s imagining himself to be with that woman. This woman really caught his attention and he day-dreams that may this woman become his. The fifth line supports the idea that the speaker wants the girl to become his partner. He compares the girl with a palm tree, which has impressive breasts. Saying that he will climb to its tree and take hold of its fruits implies that sooner or later she would become his, too. The seventh line says that he wishes that the woman he loves be clusters of the vine that would hug him everytime they make love. The last two lines are mere dreams or his wishhes. He’s imagining that they kiss and he can smell that the woman’s mouth is like the best wine and her breath is like an apple, which has sweet scent.

Day 3:

I think this poem is about a man who has a sexual desire for a woman whom he really admires. He is imagining that he is holding her breasts that are like clusters of palm tree. He sees that her breasts are impressive that he admires for it everytime he sees her. He desires for her to the extent that if given the chance, he would really make love with her. He would climb to the palm tree (even if it’s difficult) to take hold of its fruits. He dreams that once they had a chance to make love, her breasts would be clusters of vine that would hug him with her arms. He can smell her breath sweet-scented as apples and mouth like the best wine he ever tasted. Saying that her mouth is the best wine (which possibly the most expensive wine) implies that the woman is also expensive and belongs to the higher class of society. Once he had the chance to make love with her, he would be the proudest man on earth.#

Day 4:

The poem is about a man who admires intensely with a woman who is impossible to reach. The speaker of the poem per se is the man. From the situation of the poem, the man sees the woman passing in front of him that’s why he created this poem. While looking at the lovely woman, he describes her breasts as impressive and beautiful. He describes her breasts like clusters of fruits of the palm tree and dreams that someday he’ll climb to it and take hold of its fruits. With these lines, he dreams that he and the woman are having sex. “..take hold of its fruits” means take hold of her breasts. With this assumption, the speaker has a sexual desire for he woman. Furhtermore, creating such idea is really big enough that he imagines that he kisses the woman’s mouth tastes like the best wine and her breath sweet-scented as apples.#

Day 5:

The speaker of the poem is a man who is desiring for someone’s breasts. The speaker is admiring the woman for having such impressive breasts. The speaker is describing how lovely and beautiful the woman is through several metaphors. He is intensely admiring the woman. Because of that intense admiration, he desires for her breasts that someday he will have the chance to take hold of them. The speaker is day-dreaming about them making love. He imagines that her breasts may be clusters of vine that would hug him even after they make love.

I guess the speaker and the woman he admires are friends that every time they talk, he can smell the breath of the woman sweet-scented as apple and her mouth tastes like the best wine.

“Like  a palm tree, you are stately and like its clusters are your breasts” implies that the woman’s breasts are big that he describes them as bunch of palm tree’s fruits. From this interpretation, I can say that the speaker is really desiring for the woman to become his. #

Day 6:

The first two lines are the descriptions of the speaker to someone whom s/he is admiring. S/he describes her/him as beautiful and lovely. S/he tells us that s/he loves that person. The speaker of the poem is not yet revealed whether it has a male or female speaker. The succeeding lines describe someone’s breasts. Here, two things are revealed: first, the speaker zooms in to the physical attributes that the woman has and another thing is that we discover that the speaker of the poem is male. Next lines show how he (the speaker) desires to take hold of those breasts (“I will climb the palm tree… and take hold of its fruits”). The speaker will have the chance to have sex with that person because of these lines.

Another emphasis on the breasts is found on the succeeding lines. With these lines, he compares her breasts by using metaphor (clusters of vine). Her breath, according to the speaker is sweet-scented like the apples and her mouth tastes like the best wine.

The line “and your mouth like the best wine” determines that this poem is a “dream-come-true” poem. The line connotes that he finally tasted the woman’s mouth, that she become his through kiss.#

How could you be so selfish

With just one thought you decide

How sure are you, you were right

With that decision

Anybody would be fright.

You’re the only one knows

The things you’d get into

You don’t even think ‘twas right

Now you’re blaming yourself.

You know the circumstances

With all those disgraces

You messed up with them

Now, you’re alone living.

Do you think you’d still be happy

If all of them mess up with you, too?

Do you think you’d still be better

If you know they’re all gone?            

MAKING THE POEM

 I wrote this poem during my fourth year in high school. While writing this poem, lots of ideas came up to my mind. I wrote those ideas and edited some of the unnecessary thoughts. The preparation, as what the reading told us, is part of the creative process in writing a poem. I think this process, which involves preparation, incubation, illumination and verification are merely objective and only from the point of view of professional poets (to be specific). However, when you try to take down all of the processes that you have gone into in writing a poem, you cannot actually say that it’s the first stage or the preparation stage, for example because you write because you feel to write a poem whether that night or that morning. In addition, you could only say that writing a poem has process when you really planned to write. Of course, this argument is merely based on my idea on writing a poem.           

  In the case of the poem above, which I wrote during high school, who didn’t have knowledge whether there is/are process/es of writing a poem, that poem was written because of the ideas that were popping up inside my mind. Maybe, that stage was the preparation. I looked for the best emotions that could write on a paper and possibly create a poem out of it. I was angry with someone at that time because he was selfish. He only thinks of himself and he doesn’t care about us, his classmates. I didn’t have the guts to confront or to make war with him so I chose to write a poem dedicated to him. It turned out that the poem was meant not only for him but for everybody who could relate with the story of the poem. Of course, it is still not a good poem but I chose to present this poem because it’s the first poem I wrote.          

  I actually wrote the poem in prose type but I observed that it was too short for a short story so I made the prose-type as my list and guide in creating that poem. As I was writing the poem, I almost cried because every word I write was an expression of the emotions inside. True, some emotions were hard to express. Proper diction is important in order for your poem to become effective. But I was not aware of that warning because I was not feeling well.           

In short, my poem went with no process. I made that poem because I felt the need to write a poem. I know it’s not a good practice because in the first place it’s not PRACTICE after all.            

       I have a politician father and a housewife mother. My father, because he belongs to the system of politics, he is part of the superstructure which is shaped by the “base” which my mother is part of it. I’d say that my mother is part of the economic base because she helps to form the superstructure by being a housewife. Though compared to Marxist’s situation, labor was being bought by the capitalist. When you base it on today’s situation, housewives or workers who worked for landowners are part of the economic base.   

          As a student, I could say that I am part of the Superstructure because I do not work or sell my labor for me to survive, instead my father pays for the workers for them to work on in the farm and eventually, my father gets the money (from the laborers product) to pay for my tuition fees and miscellaneous.            

           As part of the University of the Philippines BA English Creative Writing Program, I foresee myself not as a writer but a teacher who teaches English subject in High school. Taking this course is really hard but as we go on with our major subjects, we learned a lot and that helps us to enjoy the program. I took this course because when I was still in high school, I excelled in English. Studying here is an ambition. So when I had the chance to study here, I grabbed the opportunity. I thought of working abroad to earn more money and through sending dollars to the Philippines would somehow help the economic status of the Philippines. I’m planning to work here first before going abroad so that I could share my knowledge to some Filipino students whom I’d have the chance to teach with. With that simple plan, I as part of the family, I believe that I do have the concern for my family because I’m planning to support my siblings’ studies so that my parents could rest. I as part of the community, I never did anything that could ruin our community’s name or my father’s name (because he is the barangay captain in our barrio). In fact, I always watch every move I make so that one could say I am a good person. I as part of the nation as a whole, well I think after I graduate, the money that I’d send here from abroad would really help the economy of the Philippines.          

       As member of the family, I only wanted to have a simple and contented life. As member of the community, I want that my brother and sister (and I) would have their own titles as professionals and become stable with their jobs. As part of the nation, I only wanted to have honest officials, progressive, and a peaceful country. I wanted to have a rich country, that would make tourists believe that Philippines is a beautiful country and eventually, economic status of the country would rise.            

        As a student, I’ll make my own move to achieve these dreams. As an individual, first moves should start on us.