Thursday, December 31, 2015
Friday, December 25, 2015
Thursday, December 17, 2015
The Anonymous Goddesses of the Philippines
“As an OCW”*
By Ruth Elynia Mabanglo
Poverty brought
me to Hong Kong
Singapore,
Saudi Arabia, London and Italy.
I infused into
my tongue the different idioms.
I tuned my body
to different beats,
Movements and
sounds of submission,
Answering,
Obeying.
I studied how
to show
I understood
the explanation,
The order,
The
instruction.
Careful, might
make a mistake-
This is the destiny
of one who has a servant,
Now to serve in
a foreign land.
The memory
clenched in mind
That afternoon
at the airport:
Do you have a
visa for your destination?
Where is your
passport?
Harry, show me!
Show me!
Maybe your
documents are fake,
Maybe you are
illiterate,
Maybe you are
stupid.
Lucid in memory
That afternoon
at the airport:
If short, dark,
and flat-nosed,
Surely a servant!
You cannot make
a mistake
IDs decorate
the luggage,
Bringing only
boxes.
Departing
to/arriving from Qatar, Iraq, or Bahrain,
For riyals or
dinars.
Lucid in memory
………
This is an excerpt of a
poem published in Invitation of the Imperialist.
P: 14
*(Acronym for
Overseas Contract Worker)
I first met Dr.
Ruth Elynia Mabanglo, the
prominent Filipina poet and scholar, in Iowa
City, International Writing Program, in 1987. Our friendship developed through
times. Years later, Elynia settled in Hawaii and taught Tagalog language and Philippine
literature in the University of Hawai’i at Monoa in the Department of Hawaiian
and Indo-Pacific languages and Literatures.
She is a
multiple awardee of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards
for Literature, the 1992 Commission on Filipino Language, and the Manila
Critics Circle 1990 National Book Award for “The Letters of Pinay”.
After years, we
met again in Manila in 2014, where she gave me her new bilingual book “Invitation
of the Imperialist/Anyaya ng Imperialista”. I knew her poetry has long been
recognized in the Philippines and I wanted to read her poems with special
consideration. I read the book and found
it stunningly beautiful and devastating in language, political views, and
historical evidence. This collection of poetry offers haunting experiences of Filipina
women from all aspects of life, from Filipina overseas contract workers to sex slaves
or domestic helpers.
Roderick Niro Labrador,
translator/collaborator of this book describes R.E. Mabanglo in the
introduction as a revolutionary feminist poet. She admits that the reader "cannot
be fully satisfied with translations for they are unable to completely capture
the cultural, historical, political and linguistic nuances" of the
original.
In a book
review, Lenny MendozaStrobel explains that “Her poems are fire; get close enough and you
get scorched. The strong and brave can withstand the searing truth of these
poems but the weak and fainthearted can take shelter as the truth is spoken for
them and with them here, their cause taken up by a woman warrior of words.”
“Invitation of
the Imperialist as the title poem, is based on a
poet's experience of being invited to a benefactor's mansion and the poet soon
realizes that she is to be symbolically devoured in the guise of being the
honored guest of the imperialist. The tense dialogue between benefactor and
poet signifies the
U.S.-Philippine relationship which first came into being as "benevolent assimilation" at the turn of the century. The gnawing, biting, chewing of the poet/guest's body parts alludes to this struggle between colonizer and colonized. Yet the warrior of words grows back her thumbs and fingers after each bite promising: On millions of paper/Unit they become rising fists/Hands that cannot be counted:/Subverting you/Suffocating you/Smothering You. (p. 13)
U.S.-Philippine relationship which first came into being as "benevolent assimilation" at the turn of the century. The gnawing, biting, chewing of the poet/guest's body parts alludes to this struggle between colonizer and colonized. Yet the warrior of words grows back her thumbs and fingers after each bite promising: On millions of paper/Unit they become rising fists/Hands that cannot be counted:/Subverting you/Suffocating you/Smothering You. (p. 13)
The rest of the
poems are about the heartrending stories of Filipinas who as overseas workers,
domestic helpers, entertainment workers (e.g. Japayuki in Japan), mail order
brides, nannies many often become victims of rape, abuse, murder, exploitation,
unjust working conditions, and always enduring the pain of leaving one's own
children and family to take care of others. For Mabanglo, it is the women who
suffer the most according to these poems, because they are the ones most likely
to offer themselves as sacrifice in order to feed and clothe their families.
The series, "A Pinay's Letter From Brunei/Hongkong/ Australia/ Singapore/
Kuwait/ U.S.," portrays the women as warriors who have met their misfortune
in...”
My interview
with Ruth Elynia Mabanglo:
E.G: Elynia, how would you like to
introduce yourself to the international audience who know very little about you
and the Philippines’ history, in a few sentences?
R.E. Mabanglo: I am the first female poet
(Filipina) in Tagalog in the Philippines. I claim this because although there
were some women who wrote one or two poems in the language, I seriously pursued
this endeavor till I put together the first book of poems by a woman. This book
is called "Supling" (offspring) that came out in 1970.
E.G: You’re a poet, playwright, fiction
writer and scholar. It seems poetry is your main medium of literary expression.
What’s poetry to you as a female poet?
R.E. Mabanglo: Poetry is more natural to
me than any other genre. One playwright once commented that poetry gets in the
way of my playwriting. However, poetry to me is as natural as breathing. Its
rhythm and rhymes are appealing to me. I don't even think about it.
E.G: Did you choose poetry or poetry
chose you?
R.E. Mabanglo: I believe poetry chose me.
It could have been my hidden school or the experiences I had that naturally
formed the language I write.
E.G: Although your poetry portrays
social, political and economic realities of the Philippines’ society, but also
illuminates the experience of the population of lower status in third world
countries, which touches the core of human soul. Are you aware of your poetry’s
global quality when you write poems?
R.E. Mabanglo: No. I write as a reaction
to the experiences of women I heard or read about. I myself experienced the same
type of gender discrimination and oppression. I too were silenced and humiliated.
E.G: Your poems mainly emphasize the
crisis of the Philippines culture, feminization of labor through history of
colonization and people’s wrestling for sovereignty. Your illustration of
export-prostitution economy and labor exploitation are enormously haunting.
How do you blend these concepts and your poignant images in such a
lyrical language?
R.E. Mabanglo: I am not really sure now.
It was something so natural as I said. It's like god in my pen. He supplies
everything. Even the words.
E.G: “Invitation of the Imperialist” is
one of your immensely powerful poems in this collection, in terms of the title,
the memorable images, the language and the haunting content. Tell us about the
creation of this poem.
R.E. Mabanglo: I wanted to write how
imperialism subjugates a country, the way a man subjugates a woman. The
woman is first awed by the pomposity and gallantry of the lover. Then she
realizes the true goal of that person.
E.G: You’ve illustrated greatly the
sexualized constitution of labor in almost all of your poems. Could you
elaborate on third world literature as part of the movement of decolonization,
women’s rights and economic independence?
R.E. Mabanglo: Since the 1970s literature
in the Philippines had been used to Voice out oppression, injustice, etc. This
is part of our tradition. First was the oppressive Spanish regime. Since the
basic freedoms were curtailed, literature was used to voice out the ill-
feelings. From poetry to riddles and novels (e.g. Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere
and El Filibusterismo), disgust and rebellion against colonialism were. Voiced
out. During the period of Marcos dictatorship, a strong revival of this
literature came about since there was censorship. We now call it EDSA
literature. EDSA (Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue) is the highway where people
power took place, it signaled the fall of Marcos. Marcos initiated the
feminization of migrant labor. My poems are my reaction to all those historical
events.
E.G: You write in Tagalog language. How
do you feel writing in English or translating your poems for a larger audience,
despite your long time struggle for decolonization of culture?
R.E. Mabanglo: I have no problem with
translating my works in English but I prefer that others do that as I am not as
adept in that language. Besides, I feel I am running out of time. I
should write more in the language I have control of. Let others do their job.
E.G: How do you analyze the role of
language and culture under imperialistic domination in today’s world? What
should be done?
R.E. Mabanglo: As indigenization is the
answer to globalization, let writing in your own native language be the tool to
fight imperialism. To me, it shows that your soul refuses to be
subjugated as well. I believe that continuing to write in your own language is
a strong indication of the resistance of the indigenous to succumb to imperialism.
E.G:
How do you perceive today’s world’s
global politics, literature, the future of poetry and its role in social
changes? Do you see a hopeful future with resistant movements in this chaotic
world?
R.E. Mabanglo: The world is bound to be
more chaotic as humans try to advance in technology. The web of entanglements
becomes more confusing as instruments conspiracy and oppression become
sophisticated. It is good to know and be prepared but we should not allow our
own native individualities succumb.
E.G: Story telling is your great skill
and expertise in poetry. Does this form of poetry have roots in Pilipino
culture?
R.E. Mabanglo: Yes. During the Spanish and
American period, it is the prevalent form. During the Spanish regime,
poets like Marcelo del Pilar wrote parody of catholic prayers to ridicule both
church and state. Then there was this triumvirate of poets who wrote (1)
"Lament of the Philippines to Mother Philippines",
(2) "Reply
of mother Spain to the Lament of the Philippines" and (3) "The Final
Lament of the Philippines
To Mother Spain".
The first two poems are more tame compared to the third which urges the
Countrymen to
dig the grave of Spain as they prepare to revolt. During the American regime,
Filipinos used
theatre to inform the countrymen that the America is the new colonizer and that
they should unite and join forces to fight them. This type of protest poetry
continues up to now.
E.G: Your poems are the creation of
private and public, documentation and fiction, infused with an agony born of
pain and oppression. Where and when does your inspiration usually strike? What
are your motivations in creating a piece of poetry?
R.E. Mabanglo: Inspiration occurs when
something familiar resonates with the global issue. I feel deeply for the
experiences of poverty and discrimination I went through.
E.G: Would you like to share some of your
experiences about the process and development of your pieces with us?
One experience I
had was when I arrived in America in the early1990s and there was this case of Anita Hill.
Her case made me so angry because I underwent harassment myself. Hence, I wrote
"Rape" (Gahasa ) and it made me poet of the year in 1994.
E.G: Would you like to add anything that
I forgot to mention in this interview?
R.E. Mabanglo: I feel more freedom in
writing poetry than any other genre. I am trying to write my life now and
it is really difficult.
Invitation of the Imperialist
the University of the Philippines Press
1998
the University of the Philippines Press
1998
Friday, December 11, 2015
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