When words are enough: World Poetry Day at Ayala Triangle

At “A Walk through Words,” a World Poetry Day celebration last March 21, the stage that was set was spare and unadorned—only a small black platform smack in the middle of the Ayala Tower One and Exchange Plaza lobby at Ayala Triangle in Makati.

 

It had absolutely no attempt at glamour or vanity, no attempt to be eye-catching or attention-grabbing, as if to say that the poetry should be enough to hold everyone’s attention.

 

It turns out that the poetry was enough, especially because it came from the likes of poetry giants like Jimmy Abad and Krip Yuson, and Vim Nadera, and bright ingenue Eliza Victoria, who won a Palanca for her poetry collection just a couple of years back.

 

The crowd was as calm as still water, but when the spoken words echoed through the lobby, they rippled, sometimes in excitement, sometimes in amusement, sometimes in sheer awe. Somehow, the poetry even managed to drown out the sharp sounds of Ayala Avenue traffic.

 

The poets and performers whose voices filled the space that night were as varied a group as any, and yet they all seemed to know and admire and respect each other—a big, brilliant family who built a home within words and pages of books. The words were an electric current, and they were the medium.

 

There was Nadera, who opened the night with a bang, collaborating with magician Richard Buligan, committing to clown garb and crawling on the floor as he stunned the audience with his performance.

 

There were the veterans: Ramon Sunico and Ricky de Ungria and Yuson. There was Abad, all of 73 years old, who recited his poem “Jeepney” flawlessly from memory.

 

There was the it-couple of the local lit scene, Mookie Katigbak and Sarge Lacuesta (who insisted that he was not a poet, but still managed to elicit the appropriate sighs when he read a “non-poem” for his wife and son).

 

There was singer-poet Mike Coroza, whose voice boomed as he alternated between verse and song. There was RJ Ledesma who read Eric Gamalinda’s “Schroedinger’s Cat and the Last Eclipse of the Millenium.”

 

There was also the late National Artist Edith Tiempo, who lived on in her famous poem, “Bonsai,” read by Krissa Celestino. As she delivered those iconic first lines (“All that I love/ I fold over once/ and once again”) some audience members even mouthed the words with her under their breath.

 

Bright young poets JC Casimiro, Carlomar Daoana, Anina Abola and Nico Caluya each chimed in with readings of both original works and poems written by their friends. Of course, there was also Victoria, who read two original poems, both entitled “Maps,” and both published in the pocket poetry magazine, Metro Serye. 

 

And then there was Nerisa del Carmen Guevara, whose ritual of a performance was a showstopper from the moment she laid a lit candle at her feet and bowed before it. As she read her poem “Shanghai Love,” her voice was calm, and her eyes downcast, as if in prayer. But the reading shook with passion all the same.

 

Arya Herrera and Reb Atadero provided music with unplugged performances of songs like “Sunday Morning,” and “Falling Slowly” bringing an easygoing charm to the celebration.

 

Rapper Gloc 9 closed the show, presenting the audience with a different kind of poetry altogether as he rapped his hit songs, “Walang Natira,” and “Upuan.”

 

Abola, who happened to be one of the people behind the event, said that it was conceived as a way to promote Metro Serye.

 

“We were looking for a way to get out into the world. We’re a very, very tiny magazine,” she said.  

When it came to choosing performers, Abola said, “We make sure you get the greats.”

 

“You get Vim Nadera who is a great performance poet. You get Jimmy Abad, hello, Jimmy Abad! And then Mookie has a very good edge on who are the new, younger poets,” she shared.

 

“First we begin with our friends. This is a big thing, to ask them to come over here. I can’t stop saying that we really get by with the help of our friends!” she added.

 

Abola shared that the event’s success has inspired them to keep doing similar events in the future, though probably smaller and more intimate, which is perfectly fine because when it comes to poetry, it doesn't really matter how big or grand an event is — as in “A Walk through Words,” the poetry should be enough. –KG, GMA News