Politics and longing in E. San Juan's 'Bukas Luwalhating Kay Ganda'

Long an overseas Filipino, the prolific intellectual E. San Juan Jr. has never left the Philippines, if one goes by the immense body of work focused on his native land. And now, from the wintry state of Connecticut, he has just published a new collection of poems, in Tagalog. “Bukas, Lualhating Kay Ganda” (Philippine Cultural Studies Center, 2013) is only his fourth book of poems in a long career. He is more known as a literary critic and cultural theorist, and his body of work in the said field is impressive, not to mention massive. Subjects that interest San Juan include justice (or lack of thereof), people’s struggle, cultural politics, liberation. So, why does a critic risk being misinterpreted in writing poems when he has spent most of his life trying to extract meanings from texts and events? Because his art is not separated from his scholarship. San Juan has been writing long enough to acknowledge the limitations of academic texts and he recognizes that poetry is a barrier that transcends it. Not everyone gets to know cultural theory, but everyone can experience poetry. Here we encounter another problem: his poems are intricate, almost incomprehensible to many. National Artist Virgilio Almario, another poet/critic, says of San Juan way back 1969: “Habang ang marami ay nilalago pa ng lipas nang bango ng tugma’t sukat ng mga apo nina Balagtas at Batute, si San Juan ay nagbibigay-modelo na ng suryalismo, imahismo, impresyunismo, kubismo at anupamang maaaring magdala sa panulaang pambansa sa daloy ng makabagong panulaang pandaigdig”. That is from “Mga Balangkas at Motibo sa Tula ni Epifanio San Juan, Jr." in "Ang Makata Sa Panahon ng Makina” (UP Press, 1972). Throughout the collection, San Juan still masterly practices his habit of inserting several allusions to people, actual or literary, or historical, to places in the country and outside, events, and even to theories by philosophers he may not agree with. An ordinary reader would greatly doubt if he’s writing poetry at all; a common person may say poetry is dead. But the “death” of poetry is not a result of marginalization caused by mass media but rather by apparatuses dictating what poetry should be. These are apparatuses San Juan has been resisting all his life. Poetry expressing nothing but love, hope, longing, beauty, and other similar indulgent emotions grant dull justification to one’s existence. Once in awhile, San Juan mocks us:

  San Juan as a poet knows internal serenity of the soul. But more importantly he also knows the external realities that torment the human body, a fact majority of artists continue to deny. And it is here where San Juan’s poetic strength lies, his ability to read and comprehend things and events differently, to deconstruct the subtle details of both oppression and liberation in our present reality overfed with shallow information. In the poem “Liwaliw sa Ilog ng Loboc, Bohol” he meditates on a scene everyone is familiar with and aspires for: tourism, particularly the so-called “green tourism”:  San Juan doesn’t intend to place you in a euphoric realm of art. In fact he pulls you savagely down to the ground and links you to the person beside you. You may or may not know him or her, and he/she may or may not read poetry. But it doesn’t matter. You two are related, and so are the people you see and fail to see. You are a result of a long history of struggle, and you are continuing what people before you have begun. It may sound cliche, but if placed in the context of the present culture of global egoistic consumerism and dream production, San Juan’s vision becomes sacred. Filipinos are not strangers to this phenomenon of finding yourself, often in a foreign land with false promises; there is a recent survey that shows Filipinos continue to leave the country. Yet a materially better life doesn’t necessarily mean it is more meaningful. There will always be a void. This is something San Juan is most familiar with himself in “Diaspora":   The name E. San Juan, Jr. is an established name. His new poems don’t change his reputation. He barely changed his approach since he began writing, and why should he? If you can give him a reason, I’m certain he won’t bulge. The moment when E. San Juan, Jr. changes and "goes with the flow" in these uncertain and ambivalent times would be the time we should all despair. The poet may be of age but not the vigorous spirit of his art, especially one that is dedicated to liberation. – KDM/KG, GMA News