poems outlive the poet

We pay tribute to three-time Palanca Awardee for poetry in English, Clovis Lopez Nazareno, who chose to serve the farmers and fishermen of Loon than embrace the limelight. Yes, Clovis could have gone to Manila or tried his luck abroad. He was not just good at poetry in English, he was very good at it. It’s been five years since he dropped his writing tools.

And lest you be misled by old rumors, it is not true that he was like Edgar Allan Poe who had to drink in order to write well. His closest of friends have told us, Clovis writes without alcohol. But that he loved drinking alcohol too much was a choice he also made freely. He has two siblings who are both doctors of medicine. But he insisted in his love for drinking for it is also his way of immersing himself in the lives of the lowly Loonanons. While at his wake, we overheard a farmer whisper in desperation, “Naunsa man ka Dong nga kalitan man mi nimo'g biya”. Proof enough of how the people in the hinterlands of Loon loved the man.

A durable one. On the lighterside of things, 74 year-old Manang Pistang of Inabanga goes around the city peddling her ginamos nga sisi by offering a balak. Almost always, her bottles are sold out before sundown.

Sometime in the late ‘90s, Nang Pistang had a chance to deliver her own composition at the Bohol Tropics, to the delight of visiting poets from different corners of our country. That same composition won a prize for her in a balak contest at a Cebu City radio station. Here is her piece in Boholano-Bisaya:

ANG TANAN PAGAHUKMAN
(Tinagik ni Gng. Teofista Cenabre Cenita, “Pistang”, nga taga-
Sto. Nino, Inabanga, Bohol)

Dili ako usa ka magbabalak,
Nga tagikon ko ang maluming pulong.
Dili ako usa ka pintor,
Nga kuliton ko ang matahom nga larawan.
Kon dili usa lang ako ka kabus ninyong igsoon,
Nga mibarog dinhi sa inyong atubangan,
Aron sa paghatag og hamubong balak.
Balak nga nag uluhan, “Ang Tanan Pagahukman”

Pasagdi akong tamayon sa mga katawhan,
Pasagdi akong mag-antus sa mga kapaitan,
Kay mao man kining mga kabus, pagadat-ugan lang sa mga kasal-anan,
Kay sa ilang pagtoo wala nay laing gamhanan, gawas sa ilang bulawan.

Ang lawas nila matambok kay daghan man silag bulawan.
Apan ang kalag nila nagniwang, kay naglunang man sa mga kasal-anan.
Inila og tinamod dinhi sa atong hukmanan,
Apan sa hukmanan ni Bathala sila pagasilutan.

Busa hinuktuki ninyo ang kabus og ang adunahan,
Managsama ra diay og sangputanan.
Kon dagiton na sa kamatayon, wala nay mopugong nga bulawan.
Kay didto ni Bathala kitang tanan moatobang.
Kong kinsa kadtong may kasal-anan,
Ibanlod sa suwab sa kalayo sa kasakitan.
Kay ang tanan pagahukman.


(Midaug sa bangga sa mga balak sa Akyon Radyo, Padayon Pilipino, Syudad sa Sugbo)
Courtesy of Boni Quirog