HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL!

Preface to my 4th book

Tentative preface to my forthcoming book, Despite my health condition (STROKE), I have labored to compile my 4th book,

STOPS ALONG THE WAY:

HAIBUNIC ANECDOTES AND TRAVEL DIARIES

Victor P. Gendrano

These diaries or short anecdotes are interspersed with poems, generally haiku and tanka, although I use other forms as well. I subtitled this as haibunic anecdotes for lack of a better term eschewing the use of haibun so as not to transgress the sensibilities of haibun purists. Some call this by the way as prose poems. 

Sometimes I even add pictures to them similar to the haiga form. In my long life‘s journey, here are the many stops and varied observations I made along the way which I diligently wrote immediately after or close to their occurrences, akin to the present-day journaling. These are records of my life experiences, observations and reactionsto what I see and feel in my travels, whether just walking in my backyard, nearby park, or going to places far from home. News items too were significant sources of my autobiographical writings.

Their arrangement is purely arbitrary and not chronological; the table of contents and title index will hopefully help the reader easily navigate the volume.

Notice to my readers:

The reason I have not posted here for a while is I had a stroke and up to now, cannot walk without a walker or a wheelchair. My speech is still garbled and am  immobile, but I am looking for slow recovery through the help of God. I'll see you soon...

ICY WINTER DAY

ICY WINTER DAY, a haibun

I experienced winter for the first time in my life in the early sixties when I was studying for my master's degree at Syracuse University in New York.

I eagerly anticipated its arrival having been born in a tropical place. My friends from the same and neighboring countries had a wild celebration of sorts with the first flurry of snow. We gathered in the yard behind our apartments and together jumped with outstretched hands trying to catch the white feathery stuff which melted gradually on our hands. Of course that was only the first half of the story as we later experienced real winter in the succeeding days.

One morning, I knew that it would be slippery that day when I started walking to school. Across the street I saw a car move unsteadily upwards on an incline only to roll down every time it climbed upwards. So on my way to school I was extra careful navigating the sidewalk with other students. Then it happened. 

In front, a few paces ahead of me, a white American student suddenly slipped and fell down on the icy walkway. Without thinking of anything but to help, I rushed to her and offered my hand to aid her up. She started to take it, but immediately withdrew her hand when she saw the brown skin of mine. Surprised, I reluctantly left the scene and did not look back even after I heard a thud again.

icy winter day 

she disdains my brown hand

trying to help her get up

as I turn to leave

she falls down again

MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

To my readers and visitors here, I wish you all Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year!

Also to my dear family who have been there with me especially after my recent stroke which hospitalized and rendered me immobile though I am gradually and surely getting better. Thanks be to GOD and my haiku way of living.

discharged patient

he kicked the inert get-well balloons

out of his way

WINTER POEMS

WINTER POEMS

TANKA

around

the bonfire

of used Christmas cards

the homeless gather

hugging warmth

HAIKU

Christmas program

the deaf children sing

in sign languagee

day after Christmas

she gives a used card

to her shelter friend

chilly night

under its darkness

hides my loneliness

Tagalog version

gabing malamig

sa iyong dilim nagtatago

aking kalungkutan

Published in my book,

Haiku and Tanka Harvest

https://www.createspace.com/3737478

EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY

EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY 

by Victor P. Gendrano

      Jasmine dances the waltz with such grace that it aches my heart to watch her in a stranger's arms, she who is my favorite, my first-born granddaughter, bubbly in her recent 18th birthday debut. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was cuddling her to sleep...Tempus fugit! 

growing pains

she dances with strangers

my daughter's daughter

And now, Jasmine is bound for college. She told her grandma that she will also be an elementary schoolteacher like her. Knowing her ability, I know she will turn out to be a good one and her students will have been lucky to have her. 

end of summer

the cocoon rides the wind

her empty room

Published in World Haiku Review

Vol. II, Issue 1, March 2002

POSTSCRIPT:

True to her promise to her grandma that she will be also a schoolteacher, Jasmine has been a successful one for sometime now teaching in a  public elementary school. To top her late grandma's achievements, she is currently finishing her Master's degree in Education. Grandma Lucy and I are indeed very proud of you Jas!

THAKSGIVING PRAYER

Five years ago, I posted the following prayer in this blog. I just think it's still relevant and more so these days. So here we go again.

Thanksgiving prayer

Thank you
my Lord and God
for gift of life and health
remembering our lost loved ones
once more.

Heed not
our weaknesses,
teach us how to forgive
and live in harmony with all
others.

So that
once more this world
of hate will be again
a place of love and peacefulness,
Amen.

Navy man's death

NAVY MAN'S DEATH

(For Gene de Guzman, husband of Nelia de Guzman in the tribute below, who passed away earlier as a Navy veteran).

I was there too under a shade

the gun salute shattered my pretense.

The bugle wail pierced the summer heat

for a moment drowning my grief.

Why is it that we only miss

those who are in their eternal rest?

In my book, Rustle of bamboo leaves, but originally published in World Haiku  Review, Vol. 1, Issue 2, August 2001.

CONDOLENCE MARE

FOR Mareng NELIA DE GUZMAN

(Condolence to her family and loved ones)

     autumn advent

     the last remaining leaf

     falls down from the tree

     on the gentle prodding

     of Santa Ana wind

     in unison we join

     our collective prayers

     for the eternal repose

     of her soul, mercifully now

     in a pain-free world

     from Pareng Vic Gendrano

     9 November 2015

On the passing today of Nelia de Guzman, the mother-in-law of my daughter Juliet.

SENRYU AND VANGUARD HAIKU

Senryu and Vanguard Haiku 

A senryu a day drives your shrink insane. - V. P. Gendrano's aphorism.

Senryu, a close relative (sometimes I refer to as a cousin) of haiku is another Japanese poetic poem dealing with human foibles, usually humorous and satirical.  Whereas haiku is serious, senryu is light-hearted.

Here are samples of senryu and vanguard haiku which I have written and some published throughout the years. In my book, Rustle of bamboo leaves, http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/rustle-of-bamboo-leaves/246155 I devoted no less than a whole chapter about it.

Facebook

the new public place

to bare yourself

Sketchbook, Vol. 6, No. 3

May/June 2011 

uncontrolled laughter

grandpa's dentures fly 

in my bowl of soup

behind her mom

she parries deftly

his flying kisses

more subdivisions

the distant echoes

of bird songs

texting while driving

he wakes in the hospital

with only one leg

Sketchbook, Vol. 6, No. 3

May/June 2011

young mother

she scolds her son

and joins him crying

he takes viagra

and almost died in bliss

his wife's wish

chilly morning

she grabs me back to bed

a little longer

World Haiku Review

January 2011

she sneezes once

twice then three times

girl with the nose ring

Sketchbook, Vol. 5, No. 4

July/August 2010

PEOPLE WATCHING

PEOPLE WATCHING 

by Victor P. Gendrano

A typical Sunday morning scene unfolds before me in my favorite eatery which I usually frequent after church mass service. Seated together on the right table is a young couple evidently so much in love with each other, oblivious to other people around them while safely ensconced in their private world. Holding hands, they let their free hands tend to their food and drinks.

Next, to their left, is a father and his well-behaved daughter in her Sunday clothes, slowly munching her french fries. In between sipping her drink, she glances at her dad with an adoring and loving smile. During a lull in their eating, he gently brushes a wisp of unruly hair upwards to her child's forehead. 

On the next table are two middled aged men boisterously rummaging a found newspaper left on their table by a previous customer. One is looking for sales in a local store while the other is busy perusing the sports page. 

At the farthest table, an old couple, obviously married and used to each other's ways, are quietly eating with nary a conversation but with a happy and contented demeanor.

People watching like this is becoming a pleasant diversion for me lately, unobtrusively observing the action and flow of humanity seemingly in slow motion.

dining alone

I forgot to feel sorry

for myself

OLDTIMERS

(For the Filipino American History Month observed each October in the US). 


Oldtimers, a cinquain poem

by Victor P. Gendrano

Across
the vast ocean
they came in waves and droves
leaving behind their native land
for good;
to Hawaii, California
even to Alaska
for better life
they hoped.

Too long
they have endured
so much hostility
and outright discrimination
galore.
They're my ancestors who, alas,
the young people today
unknowingly
ignore.

From my book, Rustle of bamboo leaves,copyright 2005.
 http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/rustle-of-bamboo-leaves/246155

A Pause in Time

A PAUSE IN TIME

by Victor P. Gendrano

Tarry a little while

and let those jaundiced eyes

pierce the unseen wonder

of nature's bounteous beauty

which in civilization's 

suicidal dash to extinction

neither could pause nor ponder

or otherwise reflect on the

spontaneity of the moment

or the cherished charm 

of a dew-draped flower

the mesmerizing melody of a song

the wishful whispers of a sigh or

a budding brave and shy smile

For once

let feelings and emotion

reign supreme over reason

and embrace these arrested

moments like long-lost lovers

Then let the soul sustain

itself of those magical moments

pulsing with life again.

In my book, RUSTLE OF BAMBOO LEAVES

 http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/rustle-of-bamboo-leaves/246155

IN THE NAME OF LOVE

IN THE NAME OF LOVE

Inspired by titillating and tragic news headlines some time ago, I wrote the first two related tanka and posted them in the Summer Haiku Blog, a world-wide community of poets with the common love of the Japanese poetic forms. Then I added the third and fourth ones  later after a similar headliner.

she gunned him
in his sleep
as she can’t bear 
to share her lover
then she killed herself

mystery solved
he disappeared
only to admit later
he’s with his other love
living abroad 

their vow of love
remains unbroken
to the very end
when both submitted
to euthanasia

she with terminal cancer
he with hale heart who chose
to die with her together
in a foreign hospital
sanctioning self immolation

While having dessert in a restaurant after a late lunch, I wrote these lines on the back of the sales receipt, fresh from the memory of the poems I wrote above. 

Being a wordsmith that I am, my poetic persona meandered to a familiar magical and homey place where the past and the present mesh and time stands still. With just a bit of remembered lives or events, an avalanche of words spews out from nowhere and weaves themselves into a poem, like this one. 

the entwined ivy
and blooming rose
reach for the sun
the entanglements
of forbidden love

REMEMBERING 9/11

REMEMBERING 9/11

A haiku sequence

simple math

six hijackers

to six thousand dead

innocence crumbles

among New York rubble

September rain

patriotic fervor

the geraniums

remain in bloom

blood-stained sun

sinks in the rubble

twilight of hopes

the Vietnam vet buys

red, white and blue tulips

memorial garden

In my book, Rustle of bamboo leaves

but first published in

World Haiku Review

Vol. 1, Issue 3, November 2001

People watching

PEOPLE WATCHING 

a haibun

A typical Sunday morning scene unfolds before me at my favorite fast food place. Seated together on the right table is a young couple evidently so much in love with each other, oblivious to other people around them while safely ensconced in their private world. Next, to their left is a father and his well-behaved daughter in her Sunday clothes, slowly munching her french fries. In between sipping her drink, she glances at her dad with a contented smile. During a lull in their eating, he gently brushes a wisp of unruly hair upwards to her child's forehead. 

On the next table are two middled aged men boisterously rummaging a found newspaper left on their table by a previous customer. One is looking for sales in a local store while the other is busy perusing the sports page. At the farthest table, an old couple, obviously married and used to each other's ways, are quietly eating with nary a conversation but with a happy and contented demeanor.

dining alone

I forgot to feel sorry

for myself

Bilingual poems

Having constantly used a borrowed language since high school and beyond, I am sometimes torn by uncertainty as to whether to use one in favor of the other or end up writing in both idioms in my poetry. 

I like to think though that I have some readers who understand both Tagalog and English hence my decision to use both as much as possible. Any comments or feedback on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a bilingual sample.

from a distance
at the appointed time
I wait for your glance
to bask once more
in your smile

Tagalog

sa abot ng tanaw
at takdang panahon
hintay and sulyap mo
nang muling mamasdan
and iyong ngiti

Published in my book,
Haiku and Tanka Harvest

"Haiku and Tanka Harvest" by Victor P Gendrano

Selected Haiku and Tanka poems, 2006-2011 A selection of over 200 haiku and tanka poems previously published in various online and print journals as well as book anthologies, written from 2006-2011.

Cinquain Trilogy

Because

I showed my grief

you were surprised yet knew

there's inner hurt gnawing inside

my soul.

But then

aren't we forced

by social norms to hide

our fears lest our loved ones suffer

from them?

I take 

my manly role

seriously as I can.

Yet do they know that I also 

feel pain?

From my book, RUSTLE OF BAMBOO LEAVES

http://www.lulu.com/shop/victor-p-gendrano/rustle-of-bamboo-leaves/paperback/product-246155.html

CACTUS

the cactus plant
outlives and outlasts
even man himself
who then is the master
of the universe

from my book,
Haiku and Tanka Harvest
available at Amazon

Tagalog

ang cactus ay

nabubuhay nang matagal

sa tao, sino nga kaya 

higit makapangyarihan

sa mundo