Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “[W]rite a patience poem. Your poem could be about someone or something with great patience, or it could come from the other direction (ie, impatience).” Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “I’d like to challenge you to write a poem about something you have absolutely no interest in. This isn’t quite the same, I think, as something you’re indifferent to. Today, I offer two poems destined for my novel-in-poems on the mythical Philippine monster, the aswang. These may be the last poems I'm writing for the novel — at least, I've filled in the denouement of the story. Now I move to revision of the novel, though I am always open to more poems if they want to show up. The speaker of these two poems is Clara, a "reformed" aswang who is working in a Philippine rural area as a healer, in atonement for her monsterly life, and in search of some kind of salvation. Regarding the two prompts, the first of the poems mentions patience and the need for patience, in response to Brewer's prompt. Both poems are about folk healing, because my character Clara has become a folk healer, in fact, a shaman or babaylan, who serve the community as mediums to the spirit world. This is connected to Thorson's prompt because folk healing and faith healing practices are something I'm not a believer in, but which is of interest for the purpose of the novel. Both poems are curtal sonnets. Healer This second poem is a response to Clara's prayerful plea in the first poem. The word hilot refers to Philippine traditional healing and a manghihilot is a healer trained in those techniques; a barangay is a Philippine village or district, formerly called a barrio. Teacher
Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone. ヅ |
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7 comments:
Beautiful work, Vince -- I love how you incorporate the two prompts into sonnets that come from the same work, the same scene (practically), and the same voice.
You rule the curtal sonnet these days, Vince. I can see this as a satisfying resolution to your novel. Keep me on the radar as to when the book will be published!
I love the two poems and how they provide a peek at the Philippine culture, even through a poem that is about something you don't have much interest in. I'll piggy back on Bruce's request to keep us in the loop about your book!
Vince, the above comment is from Suzanne H.
Billie, thanks so much. Yesterday, when I wrote this, I thought I had all the narrative elements in the novel, but today, another poem showed up!
Bruce, thanks ... very nice of you to say. Well, these poems were it for the novel. I had written the actual ending a while ago and had been backfilling the falling action of the story, but then another aswang poem came up today!
Suzanne, many thanks. I will certainly let you know when the book gets published. It'll be a while yet.
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