POETRY IN ONE FLEETING MOMENT (The Making of At Its Best)

Mr. Alerge enters the room, eyeing each delightful faces of his fourth year English major students at Room 104. He positions himself in his most usual spot where he can keenly see each faces elevated with such ecstatic elation.

Today, the sun’s brightly illuminated the room with fine intensity. You could hear the cracked up laughter of everybody, stirred with excitement murmuring in different high voices wearing a triumphant smiles. Everyone is seated comfortably on their seats while Mr. Alegre remarks,

“Today, we will write Poetry!” 

he says with full power of enthusiasm and begins to ask his students to look up at the ceiling and tell something about it in fine details, the flaws and nice parts of it even how it has been constructed and designed. Anything they see as they gaze upon it. Some speaks about the lights and how it radiates the room and later shadow comes in. Also, the shape of the ceiling has been mentioned by some even its edges, cobwebs and nylons that hangs along the red long pipes of the room.

Everyone becomes more active, ballistic and participative. Each contributes and shares his and her train of thoughts. After the board is filled with innumerable counts of objects that can be seen from the ceiling, Mr. Alegre begins the poem.

                                      

“Strings of Memories haunt this mane.” he writes while gathering his thoughts. Soon enough, one after another, grabs the pen and starts to write their contribution of lines. Spirits are elevated within the four walls of the room with such pleasure and purity to create and be one of the poem making. Each visage is illuminated with greatest fain expression, even the ambiance of the air in the near expectation.

THE CONFUSED ADORATION OF ANNA

     Pete worries, one Friday night when in Café Isabel, where he frequently sips coffee, sees his girlfriend Anna with another guy. It occurs to him like a lightning strikes in his thought, remembers the thousand excuses Anna makes. Anna as Pete recalls often declines his offer to go out on Friday nights. It is an unmistakable realization by now that Pete loses his mind amidst confusion, and begins to wonder again. Pete now with conviction stands up,some Reggie Bob Marley singing overture on the walls where the speaker hang… “Stand up… stand up… stand up for your right!”

     Everyone becomes aware of the sudden intrusion of events. They look at Pete withdeep piercing glances andforehead corrugated as though the freedom to become solitary is fiercely taken from them. He standsprostate; arms folded in firm while scanning each implacable faces inside Café Isabel and with a solid and deep spit of the tongue voice, he utters again, dignified,

     “Stand up, stand up for your right!” he saidwhile his little beady black eyes are directly looking at Annawho’s also staring at him for a long period of time. He turns his back and walkshis away towards the door, still hearing the playing of the beautifully melodicsong as he bolted the knob. He looks back once more, making sure he will see Anna’s face at the little portion of window on the door. He looks at her for some time without speaking and turn away, now everything’s reveal to him.

     When he goes outside Café Isabel, the rain starts to bang on him. He feels every drop as a bullet continually dismounting to fall in every parts of his body like a canon blows its ball one after another. Tonight, his worries are concluded, the dizziness he feels, it suffocates him, seeing Anna laughing at every jokes the guy makes, seeing Anna with a clear face and bright eyes,he feels inadequate and worthless. He doesn’t know what it is about her that completely enthralls him and how he can easily forget Anna’s inaccuracy.

     While his feet bringing him to nowhere, he’s still on his mind of thinking that he only drinks a couple of coffee before he left Café Isabel, then why does it feel like he imbibes tons of beers tonight? The heaviness of his eyelids, the sourness of his taste, and the listlessness of his legs as if he doesn’t eat meals in a week. Why does he feel so weak, so desolate? He feels like he is a stranger of himself, a stranger he can’t manage to reconstruct again. He recalls few occasions he makes just to see Anna. He even makes a thousand of apologies to his Boss in Photography Department just to meet his muse. He recollects few excuses Anna makes when Pete is on the meeting place, waiting for her then after an hour or two, she will phone him saying she doesn’t able to meet Pete.It happens more occasionallythan those times they are supposed to be together. Whenever it happens, he would automatically dislodge himself from where he is and would walk to whichever place his feet would bring him. He knows what it would be like to be lone walking across the street after few hours of waiting. He would walk acouple of miles in the pavements hearing the different loud screech of the buzzing cars due to the disarray motion of traffic signs. He will walk endlessly until he’s unconsciously at the front door of his house, feeble and tainted. Sometimes he would walk in to any pub he’ll see and drink a couple of beers hoping he’ll forget Anna’s excuses.

     Last few months before it all comes down into devastation, Pete and Anna attend a family gathering where they meet Immanuel, Anna’s childhood friend. It suddenly occurs like a blow and in a sheer despair; Pete turns out to be non-existent. Pete understands the thought that Anna and Immanuel are good friends since they’rekids and they do not see each other’s faces for like a decade and half, so they often meet whenever it is possible, but to declinePete’s offer to meet him at Friday’s, the only day they have in a week because their schedule doesn’t meet, he thinks it’s beyond unreasonable to reject his offers. Pete begins to worry. When Anna and Immanuel begin to make more time together, Pete starts to have some suspicious thinking. Whenever he meets Anna, she’s always looking forward on meeting Immanuel, at some degree; Pete understands it since they haven’t been together in the last ten years and halfof Anna’s life which he doesn’t want to make it as a big deal in their relationship,so he gives way until it becomes a month or two. He doesn’t make any call to Anna. He puts down any communication they have. He doesn’t even allow himself to see Anna even if she insists to see him. He avoids Anna until it becomes months. He gives his self a time to think whether to continue the relationship they had or throw it like a shotgun. In most cases, Pete doesn’t feel any effort from Anna; he’s always the one who gives way, time and all. These are the reason why he’s half a mind to free Anna because of how she acts in front of Pete is far way different when Immanuel enters the scene. Pete notices the bloom of Anna’s eyes whenever she talks about Immanuel. She becomes more active and elated to talk about the successful journey of Immanuel as though Pete doesn’t make good sense in any way. Maybe… maybe Anna is just confused in choosing Pete.

     Tonight, at the river banks where they usually sit together after a long walk and would see the sundown with its entire gloomy and warm sky, Pete sits alone, wretched and disconsolate. By looking straightly ahead at the completely vague featureless sky, he tries to find power. He tries to find a calculation of his strength but it feels more like a joke, it feels more like he’s been stabbed by shame right out into his chest, remembering the amiable moments since they confess the love they had.

     As he made vague assurances, Pete becomes more aware of his own miserable life, thinking what it would be like to be a no one before Anna came in to his life. He sits still, looking at his feet as it reflects upon water illuminated by the dark grey sky, it becomes more vivid as the moon gives light on water.

     “Gone were the days when the burning was loud and clear. Gone were the days when happiness was clearly seen. Now, I am lost, can’t make a headlong start, and can’t make myself fall out of love.” he utters to himself full of grief and agony while searching fora clear and valid answers.

     With a long sharp silence, Pete feels someone sits beside him as the distinct gusty wind blows in the surface.Then it flashed upon him the veritable existence of Anna straightly looking at his eyes as if she has an important story to tell, but she couldn’t get the words out.

     They are both silent for some long minutes. Pete finally stands up and darts his eyes to Anna. He looks at her for the last time without making speech, tracing the face for long because this will be the most opportune moment to free her and bid goodbye.

     And then… they never spoke again. 

A DESIRE TO MEET CHANGE

            A Bureau of Jail and Management Penology officer JO2 Mary Grace Gervacio, who pledged an oath to meet changes to the criminally accused residents of the society and to be well-equipped people of the country by helping them grow while they are inside the jail.  She has been in service as a jail officer for eleven long years of her life and has been an officer in Marikina City Jail for three years. This is the only job she has since she graduated as a criminologist. As she enters her job, she becomes more aware of the cases that run in the government and to what extent they extend their actions and concerns. Her advocacy is to persuade those who are criminally accused individual to change by helping them grow while they are under the provision of BJMP, a bureau that manages the clients while their cases are still hearing in courts.

            When she is asked for the impediments she experienced as a jail officer of BJMP in Marikina City Jail, she answered, “Sa kabuuang service ko na sa pagiging jail officer, so far naman di naman sya mahirap magdecide yun lang mag time lang na kailangn ka sana ng pamilya mo pero kailangan ka dito sa duty. Lalo na kapag red alert, yung holiday… yung… yung hindi naman sya hindi muna kailangn magdecide kasi obligado ka na nandito ka kapag red alert ka yun lang na parang gusto mo sana doon pero hindi ka pwede kasi kailangan ka ng trabaho mo….yun lang.” And when she asks of what  philosophy she has as a jail officer of BJMP in service, she answers, “ahhh sa akin parang ang sa akin kasi masaya na ako pg ka yung yung dati kasi sa female ako yung naexperience ko ay pinakamai anong maiiwang legacy yung pwede palang yung kaya mo palang tulungan yung kapwa mo na magbago kasi nag tie up kami sa service provider tapos binigyan namin sya ng livelihood tapos yung piyansa lang kasi yun nagpiyansa siya napaaga ng paglaya nya tapos yung livelihood na tinuro namin sa kanya yung nagging kabuhayan nya paglaya niya parang ayun narin yung advocacy ko na makatulong ng isang inmates na makalabas sya at the same time ay magbago ang buhay niya kasi alam naman natin  na lath ng…. hindi lahat or mostly sa napapasok dito ay yung walang trabaho sa labas kaya sila gumagawa ng krimen, nagdadrugs o di kaya nagnanakaw kasi para pantawid gutom ganun pag nabigyan sila ng livelihood na educate sila so malamang hindi na sila babalik dito tapos iko may nai.. naipapakilala din sa kanial yung iba kasi wala tlaga silang anong religion na yung tiwala  sa Panginoon ganun, tapos pakikipagkapwa, ano pa bang question? meron pa ba ? (insert nakakaiyak hahahaha) di naman.”

NEWS: Inmate Welfare and Development Program for Inmates in BJMP

            Livelihood, recreation, education and spiritual - these are some of the activities held in Bureau of Jail and Management Penology at Marikina City Jail under IWD or Inmate Welfare and Development. To make the time more productive for the clients, BJMP managed to provide them certain activities that will help them grow as a person regardless of their cases. In livelihood programs, residents are taught to cut fabrics, make patters, and weave clothes which are provided by some NGO or non government organization such as Bagong Daan ng Pag-asa and Economical Rehabilitation Concern. These organizations handle the clients’ finished products which can be sold outside and the salary for labor will be for the clients who make it. Others spend their time for recreational activities, mostly the indoor activities, which are chess, table tennis, and scrabbles. These may help them divert their attention in most viable activities rather than making unnecessary noise inside the jail. Under educational programs, BJMP is tying up sources in Alternative Learning System or ALS and other tutorial organizations to give chances to those who are deprived by education in their early life. In fact, BJMP has two clients who have been graduated under ALS program and learned how to read and write. Even the non-government organization is giving scholarship after undertaking ALS, one of which is the LLLF or Live and Life Livelihood Foundation. Lastly, the jail management is also tying up with churches to prosper the spiritual mind of the clients inside the jail.
  

BOOK REVIEW OF FRANKENSTEIN OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS BY MARY W. SHELLEY

            The novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus of Mary Shelley was created in 1816, one of the great books in Gothic Literature. The story was about Victor Frankenstein and the monstrous creature he created that spellbound every reader’s interest, satisfaction and desires. It became more enticing when the monstrous fiend also narrated his experiences and predicaments towards the human’s life and nature.

            

           The book began with some letters written by Robert Walton, a captain of the ship who became a friend of Victor. These letters were all addressed to his affectionate sister in England, Elizabeth, the one he genuinely trusted. He mentioned the meeting of the strange guy when he has a voyage to North Pole. In this case, we can say that the literary technique used in the former introduction of the story was Epistolary novel for it presented a several series of documents which was letters exchanged between the characters. As you go along reading the entire book, the story also used a Flashback technique for altering time sequences that took characters back to the beginning of the tale. It was when Victor Frankenstein went back to the first series of events down to what was happening in the recent situations of the story.

            With all honesty, I felt really bad about the situation of the nameless being he created. After long years of spending his time constructing the monster, as it was always called by the creator, the only thing he did was to run away from him and spent the night at church. He was astonished by the thought of his creation, that he was able to create a being as veritable as human, and when the day came of meeting, the monster narrated his journey in finding Victor. He knew where Victor lives, he also knew where Victor would depart and stay. He also recounted the journey he has been through, the neighbors he met and became a monster in their own naked eyes. He dislodged himself from where he lived since the day his creator deplored him.

            The way this story was created was literally indescribable even on how it has been told. It became more vivid when the feelings of the monster were also expressed in the story because more often than not, when something vile happens within the story that involves monsters and all, readers often concluded the character of the monster as bad ‘til the end. In this story, you would see how the characters developed as the turn of events happened. It was when all troubled existed since the day the monster departed and inhabited a house near one neighbor. He became more curious about human life and started to be kind on them, thinking that if he revealed himself to them, they would accept him, but as it all turned badly, he was deplored, dislodged and discouraged to live near to humankind, so he decided to travel and look for his creator. When they finally met, the only thing that the monster wanted was to have a companion. He convinced Victor to create a mate that was as same as him, so he would not feel alone in this world, that in case someone threw him away there’s still someone whom he can lean, but Victor wasn’t convinced for he thought that if ever he did one more monster, he also allowed himself to cause vices to humankind which he won’t permit to happen. It was when the character’s behavior was twisted. The monster took revenge to Victor. He slaughtered his friend, sister and wife. As you can see the character developed an intervention why the disposition of the character turned out pretty bad. He wasn’t consistently good, because in the latter part, he became vengeful to harm other lives.

            This book, Frankenstein, was entirely different among other classical books. I recommend to everyone to read it and must understand why the monster in the story was Victor rather than his creation and why does it called “The Modern Prometheus”.