Sunday, March 15, 2009

THE KINGDOM OF Pee

The Kingdom of Pee is not just that. It is a dynasty and an empire among its peers.

Once upon time in a turbulent past, a few brave men and women dared ventured into the outlawed wilderness. They brought with them parchments to be learned, alchemy to cure maladies, implements to start a guild, and order against havoc.

From their adventure was spawned a kingdom that seeks to transform the world into a better place.

Since then, the Kingdom of Pee was ruled by a succession of Kings. Some were good, some were bad. But the Kingdom of Pee was strongly built. It rode through the ups and downs.

The Serf came on the 41st year of the Kingdom of Pee. It was then ruled by a good King who called upon all his subjects by their names. There was not much wealth but it was the period of plenty and everybody was happy. The King ruled wisely.

A new King ascended on the 46th year of the Kingdom of Pee. He was also wise as he was kind. But his subjects felt that the King was not really with them. He had as Prime Minister a Witch he brought from a distant lesser kingdom. And she must have hexed the King for it was only her poisonous voice he can hear.

By then, The Serf had been knighted a Lord. He and his fellow Lords of the Pee have long endured the unseen and impenetrable wall between them and their King. They felt the Kingdom of Pee stir in silent protest. The King must abdicate.

The King did reluctantly after an invisible battle. And so left the Prime Minister Witch as a Start-up Prince was enthroned as the new King of the Kingdom of Pee.

The new King was also wise and kind. But the Lords of the Pee sensed in him a foreboding dark motive that that was not good for them. The new King distrusted the Lords and brought with him an Iago to bring them down. The Lords helped install the King but they have to unsheathe their swords against him.

But when the swords were about to be drawn, the King fell from an unexpected mysterious illness. In his place was installed a Regent --- the reluctant Crown Prince who was also the wizard of the Kingdom of Pee.

That was how the reluctant Regent King-in-Waiting came to rule. But he was more of a Wizard than a King. How the Lords were awed by his sagely explanation of how things happen! But the Kingdom of the Pee is under siege. The Lords expected the Regent King-in-Waiting to do something to stop things from happening, and not to explain how things happen and what could happen.

And so the Lords of the Pee withdrew to their fiefdoms and kept to themselves. They were looking for heroes. But it seemed that the heroes of the Kingdom of Pee left a long time ago…

Profile: Church Ruins of San Jacinto, Pangasinan


The first parochial buildings were built in 1601 when San Jacinto was established as a separate town from nearby Mangaldan. There are currently no information on the suceeding churches. What are now the ruins of the last colonial era church was probably destroyed during an earthquake in 1892.

Monday, March 02, 2009

PLUMANG TANSAN 1

Pagkatapos ng ulan
sumisingaw ang init ng lupa
tinutunaw ang tintang dumikit
sa damuhan
upang muling hugutin
sa gabing nahamugan
ang mga tulang sumanib
na sa kawalan.
Sa ganitong panahon
lumalabas ang anino ng buwan
tinatanglawan ang sandaling
kapayapaang naghahanap sa
nawawalang katahimikan.

Pagkatapos ng ulan
umaalpas ang damadamin
sa katotohanan
tumatagos
sa imposible’t kabalbalan.
Sa ganitong panahon
hayaan mong matulog
ang kinabukasan
upang makapagsayaw ang ulap
sa kalangitan
at himuking umasa
ang nahihibang.
Sa gayon,
bukas, makalawa, at kailanman
muling bubuhos
ang malakas na ulan.
--- 89-csl011870



(Ang tula ay isinulat noong 1993 sa CLSU samantalang ang larawan ay kuha noong 1997 sa UP.)