Adamhood
i.
in the beginning
I AM all
word and yoni
is a uni-
versal song
a voice
a name
I AM one
with my(self)
genesis
(is) a night
of void and
nothingness
ii.
I’ve spoken
my prenomen
and i came
to be what
I AM
a world
of my own
my name
unworded
(the atoms
of my existence)
I AM becomes
light - the first
Christ
iii.
brightness
crowning my head
godhead within
godhead without
first born of
the parthenous
mind
I AM life
–force incarnate
a makir
a fakir
and foremost
a (man)poet
iv.
my voice
married the dark(
ness) and the abyss
and the fruit
of this incest
is chaos &
out of which
the primal light
sprung from
my fore(head)
i breathed shaping
the firmament
in cosmic gyration
heavens were born
poems unpoemed
v.
i stood
completely
incomplete
upon the ground
where I AM
is I AM
God angered
he beat
the hell
out of me
snatched
a bone
or two
my rib
is broken
broken &
Eve of the broken rib
appeared so dovely
than Lilith
my Adamhood
is complete
vi.
triune
with God’s scallywag
I saw Iesu
the anchored angel
while i ate
my last supper
my first sin
the Word
on my tongue
his blood
on my lips
the best meal
I’ve had
so far
no wonder
the Selfless One
has forbidden
the fruit of
knowledge
vii.
the serpent
triumphant
in the east
of the orchard
there is a door
with the sign
EXIT
Eve
and I
moved out
covering our (wo)man-
hood & humanity
with the colors
of decay
Tumatagaumen
(Storyteller)
they disappeared one after the other
like epiphytic plants that once cupped
the breasts of our virgin forests
the muses left their sun-flowered brae
when they heard no more the stories
and the brown songs of Caboloan
the ricefields turned from green into gray
without laughter without poetry
not even a day of remembrance
they went away into silence
leaving their random biographies behind
unsigned in the province of our minds
now they are still forgotten
until we learn how to remember
and reclaim what is ours to reclaim
their place in the history of the living
SANTIAGO B. VILLAFANIA, Pangasinan poet from the Philippines, is the author of poetry collections Pinabli tan arum ni'ran Anlong (Beloved & Other Poems), Balikas na Caboloan (Voices from Caboloan) published by the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts (NCCA) under its UBOD New Authors Series (2005) and Malagilion: Sonnets tan Villanelles (2007). Some of his poems in English have appeared in local and international print and web publications/anthologies. Villafania is one of the 11 outstanding Pangasinenses and recipient of the 1st ASNA Award (for Arts and Culture) during the first-ever Agew na Pangasinan and 430th Foundation Day of Pangasinan in 2010.
i.
in the beginning
I AM all
word and yoni
is a uni-
versal song
a voice
a name
I AM one
with my(self)
genesis
(is) a night
of void and
nothingness
ii.
I’ve spoken
my prenomen
and i came
to be what
I AM
a world
of my own
my name
unworded
(the atoms
of my existence)
I AM becomes
light - the first
Christ
iii.
brightness
crowning my head
godhead within
godhead without
first born of
the parthenous
mind
I AM life
–force incarnate
a makir
a fakir
and foremost
a (man)poet
iv.
my voice
married the dark(
ness) and the abyss
and the fruit
of this incest
is chaos &
out of which
the primal light
sprung from
my fore(head)
i breathed shaping
the firmament
in cosmic gyration
heavens were born
poems unpoemed
v.
i stood
completely
incomplete
upon the ground
where I AM
is I AM
God angered
he beat
the hell
out of me
snatched
a bone
or two
my rib
is broken
broken &
Eve of the broken rib
appeared so dovely
than Lilith
my Adamhood
is complete
vi.
triune
with God’s scallywag
I saw Iesu
the anchored angel
while i ate
my last supper
my first sin
the Word
on my tongue
his blood
on my lips
the best meal
I’ve had
so far
no wonder
the Selfless One
has forbidden
the fruit of
knowledge
vii.
the serpent
triumphant
in the east
of the orchard
there is a door
with the sign
EXIT
Eve
and I
moved out
covering our (wo)man-
hood & humanity
with the colors
of decay
Tumatagaumen
(Storyteller)
they disappeared one after the other
like epiphytic plants that once cupped
the breasts of our virgin forests
the muses left their sun-flowered brae
when they heard no more the stories
and the brown songs of Caboloan
the ricefields turned from green into gray
without laughter without poetry
not even a day of remembrance
they went away into silence
leaving their random biographies behind
unsigned in the province of our minds
now they are still forgotten
until we learn how to remember
and reclaim what is ours to reclaim
their place in the history of the living
SANTIAGO B. VILLAFANIA, Pangasinan poet from the Philippines, is the author of poetry collections Pinabli tan arum ni'ran Anlong (Beloved & Other Poems), Balikas na Caboloan (Voices from Caboloan) published by the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts (NCCA) under its UBOD New Authors Series (2005) and Malagilion: Sonnets tan Villanelles (2007). Some of his poems in English have appeared in local and international print and web publications/anthologies. Villafania is one of the 11 outstanding Pangasinenses and recipient of the 1st ASNA Award (for Arts and Culture) during the first-ever Agew na Pangasinan and 430th Foundation Day of Pangasinan in 2010.
