Antonio (Tony) Pena, Virac, Catanduanes, Philippines
Tonypena49@hotmail.com
Education: BSC Accounting, AB English
Organizations: Akademyang Kapampangan Tavika Group, Amanung Sisuan, Inc.;
Off-The-Wall Haiku, Pinoy Poets, Makata
Awards: Most outstanding Kapampanga Awardee in 2007 arts and culture
References where listed: Dalityapi Makata, Ing Susi, Our Own Voice, Ribbons,
Pampanga-on-Line, Ing Bie Kung Delanan, Ing Bie Kung Balikan
On-line publications: http://bungasasa.bravehost.com/kapampangan
http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/nombresin/index.htm (English)
The Philippines has a national controversy over language. Should Tagalog or English be the national language for all to learn in school, or should people be taught also in their native language of which there are over 180 in the Philippines. Antonio Pena is working to preserve the native languages along side teaching in the national language of Tagalog and the international standard language of English.
Tagalog is a language based on Pilipino, the language of Manila, mixed with lots of Spanish and incorporating words from throughout the Philippines and other languages. Tagalog came into use after World War II.
Antonio Mercado Pena
See also his page in Kapampangan
NOSTALGIA: a plight and a flight
By Antonio Mercado Pena
my exodus
outscreams
the cold silence
of the tomb
i, a moses
of unknown
fate and endless
odyssey, rush swiftly
back home
to the warm
cuddle of the womb
egocentral
i am that facial image
upon the pond with
mirror-smooth water
a careful dip of your finger
sends a thousand ripples
crippling my facsimile.
beg me not to set free
my natal freudian grip
it is not easy to be me
allow me to heal myself
let me be solely alone
my name is Narcissus!
(There are some lives
enjoyably preserved and
spent inside cocoons!)
metamorphosis
i lost some parts of me when i found
and plucked you a thornless rosebud
and listening from what you have left unsaid
our communion was a mistake sanctified!
let this delicate secret settle and die
calmly to its terrestrial repose then I
to the next eternity will bravely seek
to forgive myself including yourself.
very soon i will be free enough
for these fast growing wings to flap
and fly me to a higher interlude
of space and time: the flesh is made Word!
footprints
(tanka chain)
as I capture
your sighs in my arms
passion pulsates
rupturing its cocoon
celebrating its first flight!
monsoon rains
wash ashore the twigs
off the bonfire
unkindle the last simmer
of the fires of summer!
white sands
cooling at sunset
i lay my head
gather my last refrain
easing a yester-pain!
looking back
at the footprints ashore
only a pair left
yours, swept by a rushing tide
mine, kept reliving the allure!
the pain
of your nearness
melts into tenderness
as I touch, trace
the sand for your footprints!
