secret asian man

Poems, poetry, poetics, and poetic rants by the secret asian man.

Here's an important essay that's to be included in a forthcoming anthology called Dark Horses: Contemporary Poets on Forgotten Poems. I wanted to focus on a poem by the excellent Filipino poet Rafael Zulueta da Costa who won the Commonwealth Literary Prize way back in the early 40's in the Philippines. "Zulu," as he was known to his friends, was a companion of my father, Alfonso at De LaSalle college in Manila during the 30's. When I was growing up in Makati in the 70's, I really didn't know Zulu as a poet but, as an old buddy of my dad who came over to our house to drink scotch whiskey and talk of "the good old days of Manila." When it came time to be educated, I was sent to attend the first grade at San Lorenzo School in San Lorenzo Village in Makati. This was the pre-elementary school and kindergarden that Mr. Zulueta had founded in the 1970's. Besides being the owner of the school, he was also its Principal so, one day when I was called into his office, I thought I was in trouble. I remember he said something about paying more attention in class and help make my father proud of me because I came from "a good family." Zulu is dead now but I remember him more as a family friend than as the important Filipino poet that he was and still is to as few of us.


GODS WALKING ON BROWN LEGS: Remembering “Like the Molave.”

by Nick Carbo


Rafael Zulueta y da Costa’s (1915-1990) long poem “Like the Molave” is one of the most important touch stones in the history of Philippine poetry in English. The book Like the Molave & Collected Poems was the top prize winner in poetry in the 1940 Commonwealth Literary Contest. When one considers the history of America’s colonial domination (since 1898) of the Philippine archipelago, its imposition of American culture and language, and repression of native cultural expression, this set of literary prizes was the beginning of the official recognition of local writers. When the American forces sent by President McKinley arrived on the shores of Manila Bay in 1898, few Americans back home knew where the Philippine islands were on a map. Cartoon images of Filipino “savages” (portraying the locals as “Negroes” with big lips and bones adorning their heads) filled the American newspapers of the day. Rudyard Kipling had written his famous poem “White Man’s Burden” to extoll the Americans to earn their place in the sun by accepting the charge of these “brown pickaninnies” and by civilizing them.

By 1940, the Filipinos had been educated by the Americans for more than four decades and a new generation of English-speaking writers were about to come to the fore. Only 16 years earlier in 1924, did the first anthology of Filipino-English verse appear. The editor of Filipino Poetry, Rodolfo Dato, wrote in his introduction an apologia for the existence of the book and he quoted the America educator and linguist Frank C. Laubach on the literary ability of the Filipinos:

“They [the Filipinos] knew nothing of the English language prior to the American occupation. Their attempts at composing prose and poetry in English have been so full of grammatical errors and mis-use of words, that Americans have not been in any mood to look for dreams to which the Filipinos have been struggling to give utterance.”

By 1940 the dreams of Filipino poets writing in English were reaching a maturity which the Americans could no longer ignore. “Like the Molave” begins with the invocation of the Filipino national hero Jose Rizal who was executed by the Spanish colonial government in 1896: “Not yet, Rizal, not yet. Sleep not in peace.” Da Costa calls to Rizal’s spirit and implores him to rise from the ashes of history to attend to the current struggle against a new colonial master:

“Our shoulders are not strong; our sinews are Grown flaccid with dependence, smug with ease Under another’s wing. Rest not in peace; Not yet, Rizal, not yet . . .”

One of the reasons the judges cited as the deciding factor for the top prize was the book's political content. In the introduction to “Like the Molave” the Filipino critic Salvador P. Lopez says: “Here is poetry that is as large in its social sympathies as the sweep of its resonant lines is large; poetry that is exultant because it exalts the common man. Rarely has the Social Muse been courted in language of surer accent and more irresistible persuasion . . . .” These social sympathies that won Zulueta da Costa wide literary acclaim in certain literary circles also got him into trouble with many American officials who interpreted some of the lines in “Like the Molave” as blatantly anti-American. Lines like:

“. . . We know the story, the black looks, the scowls, the placards in the restaurants saying: Neither Dogs nor Filipinos allowed; the warning at the fair: Beware of Filipino pickpockets; the loneliness, the woman denied”

and

“The emigrant thinks: surely if we welcome the big white brother blasting the gold out of our hills, surely, the little brown brother will not be begrudged the picking of lettuce leaves from his fields” cost the winning poet his teaching job at the De LaSalle College. When he presented his resumé at newspaper offices and private businesses in Manila, no one would give him a job.

The story of “Like the Molave” in Philippine cultural history took an upbeat turn during the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s when the poem was made required reading in every high school classroom from the islands of Luzon to Mindanao. The poet, however, did not publish another book of poems during the rest of his life because of the deep glorious wounds received when he dared to stand up against the American imperialist gale.

Posted by: secret.asian.man at 21:45 | link | comments (2) |