Laughter by Maningning Miclat

A little background of Maningning Miclat..

She was born in Beijing, China to both Filipino parents. She published her first book of poems entitled Wo De Shi in Mandarin, and held her first solo show of traditional Chinese painting, Maningning: An Exhibit of Chinese Brush Works.

In 2000, at the age of 28, she jumped from the seventh floor of Far Eastern University where she was teaching at the time. In 2001, the Maningning Foundation was founded in memory of her to celebrate the talents of young artists both visual and written.

Analysis of her poem Laughter..

Her poem, Laughter reflected the life she had. Though she had many struggles in life, she still tried to be happy; she wants to keep those memories, and tried to feel happy. She wanted to share her pain and painful memories through her poems, but sad on the storyline of her poem Laughter, the man she was sharing her life and painful memories with left her without even understanding her.

In progress..

Unbearable Pain

Tiny droplets fell like tears,
Her heart was pierced with a spear.
Unbearable is her pain;
Wish it could stop like the rain.

Here is the other one..

Heart of Ice

Precious pearls rolled from her eyes,
Froze her heart like solid ice.
Why prolong the agony?
If you can just set her free.

Servant Girl by Estrella Alfon

The short story entitled Servant Girl is a nice story. It really touched it's readers hearts. It is about a girl named Rosa, who works for a mistress, who has a spell of bad humour but generous at times. She had worked as a servant all her life; from places to places, usually takes her more about four months of service. But this time it was different. She had stayed with the mistress for over a year now.

Everyday, she does her daily routine, wash the clothes, get drinking water, and sometimes when her mistress is drunk, forces her to eat or she'll starve to death.

The mistress, in spite of her bad humour, is pitiful at times especially when she saw Rosa burst into tears because of her beating. But she values money, and loses self-control when there is something loss or wasted.

Rosa was a kind, patient and understanding girl. In spite of the beatings of her mistress, she stayed with her and continues to do her job. Until one day, she met her "Angel" a cochero she met who helped her ease her swollen foot. From the day she met him, she constantly dreamed of him, and eventually, she was infatuated with him.

She distinguished "Angel" as different from other men, that he was a kind-hearted and gentleman; far enough from Sancho's characteristics.

Later on the story, when she decided to move out of the house, she met "Angel" late at night. She then realized that she was not in love with the man, that it was merely a feeling to express her gratitude for helping her back then. She then realized that this "Angel", can also whip a girl alone in the road at night. She then made her mind that there's no way to run now, that her only choice is to go back to her mistress.

From this story, I realized that there are a lot of choices that we need to make in life. But whatever decisions we made, whatever choice we decide to choose, we should seek on God, I know He knows what's best for us and I know He'll never let us down. That's for sure. ;D

Significance of Filipino Writers

Marjorie Evasco

As a writer, Marj commits her vision through her poetry, believing that the worthy warrior and healer is necessarily adept at giving voice to the vision so that other may sing it, too. Marjorie writes in English and Cebuano. Her poetry has appeared in different parts of Asia, Europe and North America. She had been published in various Philippine magazines and journals, and in Tampa Review, New Straits Times, Manoa and The Evening Paper. She was a local fellow for poetry at the UP Creative Writing Center in 1986. An associate fellow in the Philippine Literary Arts Council, she is also one of the founders of WICCA, a women's organization. She was featured among writers from Asia-Pacific at the 10th Vancouver International Writers (and Readers) Festival in 1997. During that time she also read her poetry at the inaugural Winnipeg Writers Festival of Manitoba. She was awarded her Ph.D. in Literature in 1998 at De La Salle University.

(Source: marjorieevasco.jimdo.com: Ruby Red. Marjorie Evasco. 2008. Web. 24 June 2009 <http://marjorieevasco.jimdo.com/index.php >)

Carlos Bulosan

He is celebrated for giving a post-colonial, Asian immigrant perspective to the labor movement in America and for telling the experience of Filipinos working in the U.S. during the 1930s and '40s. In the 1970s, with a resurgence in Asian/Pacific Islander American activism, his unpublished writings were discovered in a library in the University of Washington leading to posthumous releases of several unfinished works and anthologies of his poetry.

(Source:wikipedia.org:CarlosBulosan.2009.Web.24June2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Bulosan>)

Unveiling beauty

Literature is the art of written words. It's beauty is inevitable. Through the years, literature has been helpful to mankind. It is about man and nature. It brings physical and spiritual delight. It grants wisdom and knowledge to its readers which they could pass on to other people and apply to their lives. Like a flower bud, at first glance it's not appreciated. But in time, as it blooms, you will soon appreciate its beauty. Like in literature, it may be hard to understand it, but with time and patience, you will learn how to understand and appreciate it.

Image from yahoo.com; click here to see original picture. :)