Thursday, February 01, 2007

Prelude to Poems

Ahhh, February. Love is in the air. Another one of those annual events when pop culture and the forces of consumerism bombard us with every imaginable commodity. As for me, I have nothing to offer nor purchase. I have not yet been in love and had been single since birth so there are no love stories to tell at this point.

But I have experienced the childlike wonder of infatuation, when everything else is a blur except your object of affection, when shmaltzy daydreams reach avian heights and persist until moonrise, and when the possiblity of losing yourself and your head seems like an intoxicating drug that is tremendously irresistible.

Several years ago, I made an anthology of poems written in Filipino. It's different when you write in your first language when the heart speaks honestly and flutters effortlessly to transform emotions into words. I was thinking of translating it but was afraid it might lose essence or impact so I forwent the idea. If you know someone who knows Filipino, that person will come in handy.

"Ideyalistikong Pagninilay-nilay ng Isang Homo-Romantiko" (Idealistic Musings of a Romantic Homosexual), is a collection of five love poems that spanned three years to complete. Looking back now, it is an interesting look at how my notion about romance and true love metamorphosed from fully hopeful to somewhat cynical.

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