Banna in the Mind

(For Joel Manuel, inheritor par execellence of a heritage)



This is the right way to decipher the wall of language,

The englishes we learn from winter winds, white wisdom,

Snowy christmasses, kissing santa clauses with ruddy lips.

Haha! Tell it to the marines, those that got the boondocks

From the mountain ranges and brought home the madness.

No mas, señor Manuelito maestro, no mas puede, ngamin,

Ngamin ta bulbulitor a napeklan ti mannanakaw a kaibaan,

Oh yes, the elegant elf comes ransacking the rusty rice bin

And finishes off the ugaw and gracia of the kankanen.



I got my license now to teach English to all who lust

To learn again what language is, the word of the world,

Worlding what is, what ought to be, what we are,

Pilgrims all in this life, journeymen looking for luck,

Much luck when you have yet to sell your name,

More when you breathe the mountain air of Banna,

The farms in wildfires even in the coldest of heavy rains,

The fires from the fertilizers we buy dignidad por almuzar

The fires from the water we barter smile for pangngaldaw

The fires from the certified seed mortgaged with linugaw.



Haha! You are damn right, absolutely right, señor,

The politics of language is in the bad teaching,

The domination that comes with instilling the amen,

That yes that goes with imitating immaculate dreams,

Those that come to us without the colors of coaxing

The arid earth to give birth again to low skies, clear

In the quiet seasons for recounting mushroom picking time

To midwife green fields and forests with the fern

And the promise of a full meal, the scent of cooked rice

In the altars of lived lives, fully lived, our lives,

With the sweet singing, in falsetto, of the Pamulinawen

The singing sober and alert, in step with the Arikenken.



Haha! Keep on, señor Manuelito maestro, keep on

With the language studies that frees us from the decrepit,

The one that shows us the way to liberating the verbs

That make us violent, arrogant, self-centered, Western chic,

The language studies that breaks down the wall that excludes

Separates us from our separateness, we who desire

The enchantment in names, the magic of nouns,

The unmasking of the conjugation of our faked foreignness.







Aurelio S. Agcaoili

Carson Library, Carson, CA

Nov. 12, 2004



















5 comments:

caribquibnhs said...

Apo Lung-aw! Naglaingkayo a talaga, manong!Natalenten pay la dagiti metaporayo iti panunotko!
Ha ha, kunak no simmiasikayon iti dalan nga inusatanyo, manong!

Adda dagiti makitkitak nga inlistada a loadyo dita College of Arts and Letters ket kunkunak, agsubli ngata aya daytoy malalaki nga Ilokano a henio dagiti baro ken napabaro a pannakidangadang? Nagsaritakami ken ni Apo Jimmuel Naval idi sangakalman ket kunana, nagresignkayo kanon ditoy UP, manong. Naimbag a gasat, gasatyo a sangapamilia dita 'Merika, manong.

Kanayonnak idi a kuliten no makitanak, gapu ta inlanadko didiay Sagibo ti ambisionko. Kayatko nga ileppas ti MA Language Education ditoy manong, ket no adda gundawayko ken mapagasatanak, mangalaak iti Ph. D. in Philippine Studies wenno Literature ket kayatko nga ipangruna ti area iti Iluko literary scholarship/Iluko language. Sayang ta ne awankayo met ngamin ditoy UP itan. Daydiay ambisionko, sibibiag, kas iti karayray ti Vega iti malukong a langit.

Pagyamanak ta ne, adda met gayam pannakaikari dagitoy sinuratko; dakayo met ti agkuna a ninanamyo, he he. Ken kayatkon nga ipeksa ditoy ti panagDios-ti-agnginak kadagiti pannursuroyo kaniak-iti napalabas a kontes ti literary criticism iti KWF, napagasatan tay salaysayko iti maika-2 a gunggona. Nangatiw met ditoy da Prof. Shirlita Africa, UPLB, 1st; Associate Dean Jimuel Naval, 3rd, Dr. Audie Lacsamana,UAP 4th; Prof. Winton Lou Ynion, FEU, 5th; ken Dr. Leticia Cantal-Pagkalinawan, UAP, 6th. Pasetnaka dayta, manong.

toy adingyo,

joel

rva said...

ne, agpayso kad' nga nagresignkan idiay UP, mang ariel?

gayyem joel, congrats latta manen, a, iti panangatiwmo iti sanaysay! di la mabalin, aya, ti dumawat ti kopiana dayta sanaysaymo ta nanamen ken adalen met datao ti apros ken ariwengweng ti akda bareng makaputarto pay met datao iti nasaysayaat a sinurat...

nakontaknaka kadin ni apo ATI, joel? adda kano ibagana kenka ket...

rva

ariel said...

To RVA and JM:
wen. adu a ladingit ngem ania ngarud ti aramidek?
padasek ti agallaalla ditoy tapno ammokto ti isursuratko maipapan kadagiti pada a leppap a makiginnasanggasat ditoy. i am working on several projects at the same time--there would be no way i could do it there b/c of so many reasons--basic resources included.

uray met ditoy--nagrigat. a ngem, ania ngarud no di padasen ti agpatagabo tapno no agbiag datao. ala ngarud, dakayo a dua, ilalaemdakto kadi lattan.

i have an offer to teach in U of Hawaii next year--and the present head of the Iluko Studies/Film and Drama Program wants me to take her place come late next year when she retires. i hope and pray that this plan is going to see the light of day otherwise i will have to eke out a life here in LA. dog-eat-dog world ditoy, really so.

itultuloy ko latta--irapinrapin, kunak ketdi, ti agsursurat barbarengli. i seize the emotions. many emotions. and i am beginning to write the biography of manong amado. watch out!

toast to you both--and this blogsite will link us.

manong A

joel said...

ala, ket aganuska nga agules iti kalambre, manongmi, ngamin ta awan met nginabras ti bagas a marakem kadagiti rima ken pisara ditoy.

gayyem roy, ikkanka iti kopiana daydiay baben iti e-mail. Urayem lattan.

ariel said...

dear joel, senor Manuelito (well, sika daydiay, semiotically!):

wen, a. ngem masapul ti kaskasdi a panangsustenir iti lengguahe ken kannawidtayo. this is the only way to guarantee our survival as a people.

so the two of you--and the rest of the committed group--ditay umibbat, ala.

manong A