HIMAGSIK KAYUMANGGI

"What death would you desire?" She says: "A bronze death that yields a cloister for the heart; or that which is charter for a giant, a silver death; or that for which one must labor: one's sacrament, that's a death of gold?" Alas, how can your pilgrim choose? Always there's the hissing of fire-- On my neck creeps the salamander! But here on this steadfast ground earth whereon the mighty have fallen, gnomes choir a bronze hymn to you and yet could I but rear for myself-- a giant's head far from all solitude-- O how the undine's luster shall flood into my silver sepulcher! For it is fate out of gorges between sheer cliffs that gives us wings for pilgrimage and you who dance like a scented sylph on the winds have not, have not the golden character of grace and should you but pray for me 'a fine and private place' plucked up for this death, my death, that's golden to you alone I give my only name-- "Oh, now, what death would you

ABOUT E. SAN JUAN, Jr. E. SAN JUAN, Jr. is director of the Philippines Cultural Studies Center and co-director of the Board of Philippine Forum, New York City. He was recently a visiting professor of literature and cultural studies at National Tsing Hua University and Fulbright professor of American Studies at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. He will be a Rockefeller Foundation research fellow at the Bellagio Center, Italy, this Fall 2006. San Juan was a fellow of the Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University, and chair of the Department of Comparative American Cultures, Washington State University; and professor of Ethnic Studies, Bowling Green State University, Ohio. He was previously visiting professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Trento, Italy, and at the Graduate School of Tamkang University, Taiwan. San Juan received his graduate degrees in English & Comparative Literature from Harvard University. He taught at the University of

BAGUHIN MO ANG IYONG BUHAY! Bago magpantay ang paa lumikas ka mula sa lugar ng engkuwentrong pinaghaluan ng balat at tinalupan Walang tanglaw sa pakikipagtipan ayaw tumawad sa sugal ng maskarang mapagpanggap Kinalawang na ang puso nilagok ang apdong hinugot sa kung saang tadyang Gumulong ang tadhanang palabiro, humihimok Kawing-kawing ang himutok Mula sa kumuno’y pabulaos— Busabos ng palad, bakit mo tinitiis? Kailangan, kailangan ang paghuhunos Namamalahibo, isingkaw mo ang nakaumang na pangil, isingkaw At huwag sumuko sa kabuktutan Walang tiyak na katubusan kaya itakwil ang larong mapanlinlang ng mandarayang kaulayaw Masahol pa sa lambutsingan ng hayop at malansang isda Iligtas mo ang puso sa tukso ng Aprodayteng iniluwa ng dagat-bula— Ano’t maghuhunos-dili o mag-aatubili?

Iiwan mo lahat ng iyong minamahal; ito ang palaso na unang ipinawawalan ng busog ng pagkatapon…. --Dante Alighieri Huli na raw ang lahat. Huli na, umalis na ang tren lulan ang gunita't pangarap. Huli na, lumipas na ang kamusmusan ng balikbayang naglagalag. Huli na, naiwan na tayo ng eruplanong patungong Tokyo at Los Angeles. Huli na, nakaraan na ang oras ng kagampan at pagsisiyam. Tumulak na, malayo na ang bapor patungong Hong Kong at Singapore. Nagbabakasakaling aabot pa ang kable--Sayang, di biro, nakapanghihinayang. Huli ka na sa pangakong pinutakti ng agam-agam at pag-uulik-ulik…. Huli na, nahulog na ang araw. Itikom ang labi, itiim ang bagang…. Kahuluga'y naanod-lumubog sa dagat Sargasso ng pagpapakumbaba't pagtitiis-- Pahabol ay di na magbubuhol--Tapos na ang pagsisisi't pagpapatawad…. Walang taga-ligtas ang lalapag sa tarmak mula sa lobo ng iyong pangarap. Huli na nga, nakaraos na ang kasukdulan, di na maisasauli ang naibigay. Sinong manlalakbay ang magkakaila

ITAGA SA BATO Ni E. San Juan, Jr. Naghiwalay tayo noong Disyembre 1991 sa kanto ng Blumentritt at Avenida Rizal. Ka Felix Razon, natatandaan mo ba? Bungkalin mo ang kalansay sa apog at lumot ng gunita upang masapol ang katotohanang taliwas sa kabuktutang naghahari. Inilantad mo ang kabulukan at pagtataksil ng gobyerno't militar sampu ng pagpuputa ng mga premyadong artista't intelektuwal kaya hindi nakapagtataka, hinuli ka't ikinulong, binugbog, ginutum sa bartolina, kinoryente ang bayag, parusang maka-abo't-dili-- Diyos ng awa, sinong makapagbubulag-bulagan sa krimeng nangyayari araw-araw sa bilanggong pulitikal? Sinong testigo ang magpapatunay?— dahil (bintang nila) ikaw raw ay komunista. Umaambong takip-silim nang tayo'y maghiwalay, patungo ka na sa asilo ng Utrecht, Holland…. Samantala sa Isabela at Davao, timog at hilaga ng kapuluan, patuloy ang paghihimagsik ng masa, ang "di-kagila-gilalas na pakikipagsapalaran" ng karaniwang mamayan, katuw

  Before and after Angelo de la Cruz: The Filipino since 1898     By B.S. MEDINA JR. [REVIEW OF: E. SAN JUAN, Jr., Himagsik: Pakikibaka Tungo sa Mapagpalayang Kultura. Manila: De La Salle University Press, 2004. PAPER reports, newscasts, even poolroom squabbles on US official/unofficial disappointment over the Philippines’ decision to pull out its humanitarian contingent from Iraq — "cowardice," says an American TV comic host — all make Epifanio San Juan, Jr.’s latest offering in criticism, Himagsik, timely, if not very necessary, reading for those who are weighing out an intriguing, even conscience-picking, and now simplistically put issue: Are you pro-American or whatever? And you might as well ask yourself, thinking of hostage-turned-man-of-the-hour Angelo de la Cruz: Are you pro-life or whatever? The Philippine decision to leave Iraq asserts that life is the only choice — and with it come the blessings and the bashings. The pull-out, too, points out that the present c