By Jesse Jose

A Cup O' Kapeng Barako

P rofound and beautiful words, they were!  And, it's a celebration, indeed.

I was debating with myself this past couple of days whether to write about my take on that horrible massacre in Tucson, Arizona, the land where the "Gunfight at OK Corral" took place and where weapons for massacres can be easily had by anyone ... 

Or about this ugly war of words with a colleague that became two gems of poetic beauty. One was a poem and the other, a sonnet, ala Shakespeare daw.

I think poems and sonnets are more profound readings than shocking killings, so I chose the profound. And something like this must be shared with many people as possible, including the loyal readers of my Barako column, who are not privy to the list serv where this two inspiring poetic pieces originated from.

This all started when I wrote that piece, Did Jose Rizal "Plagiarize" Alexandre Dumas' Novel, "The Count Of Monte Cristo"?, that with delightful surprise became the number-one in RESULTS as the most-Googled piece in the Internet insofar as the category “Rizal and Dumas” was concerned. But sadly, it also resulted in an ugly war of words with colleagues. I was even cursed. But then as I said, I didn't take all that curses and ugly words heaped on me laying down. I cursed back, and that resulted in more curses. Back and forth, back and forth we hurled vile names at each other. It was so ugly, I tell ya.

Then a good friend and a fellow church member, Gerry Garrison of Auburn, Washington, entered into the fray and wrote an e-mail to the list serv. It was a fine, well-written commentary really that I incorporated it verbatim into my follow-up story, An American Friend of the Philippines Comments on "Did Jose Rizal ‘Plagiarize’ Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo?". This piece also produced RESULTS in thousands, in the Google Search Engine. 

T hen came this letter and this beautiful poem from Romy Marquez, also a good friend and a colleague, based in Toronto, Canada:

"Dear Pareng Don and Pareng Jesse ... Reading your respective comments and love (less) letters while I sipped instant coffee, I am moved to write some lines and tried to put them in verse.  The falling snow that I could see from the window helped me come up with 12 stanzas ... 

"I gave them a title, thus, Twelve Stanzas for Peace -- A Celebration of Friends and Friendships, heartily dedicated to the two fine gentlemen who, with blazing guns at the ready, are both impervious to fear.

"I also dedicate this to all my friends, among them, Bobby Reyes, Joseph Lariosa, Pareng Don and Pareng Jesse, Pareng Dido, Lourdes Ceballos, Ting Joven, Bart and Yoly Tubalinal....."

Dear Readers, here's the poem.  Enjoy:

In the name of peace

let's not tease, please, please.

In the name of love

let's stop the blab, blab, blab.

In the name of community

let's all aspire for unity.

In the name of our families

let's do our sacred homilies.

If fighting, fighting is our thing

No one's left to do the planting.

Foul mouths spew hate, insults and lies

Impacts all, friends, enemies and wise.

Weapons of war like knives, guns, bombs

Kill, maim and make us all hateful dumbs.

Nobody wants somebody's garbage

Dump, recycle them for cabbage.

Next year, new decade, time to be new

Banish hate, be honest 'ven for few.

Friends we are, on earth, in cyberspace

Sharing good, bad, ugly thrown our face.

We all suffer in times of war

In times of peace we'll go far, far.

Waste not the time, waste not the day

We can frolic in fun, wait for that day.

Then Romy Marquez produced a newsvideo version of the poem that can be accessed at this article, Twelve Stanzas for Peace – A Celebration of Friends and Friendships.

MY RESPONSE TO ROMY MARQUEZ'S POEM:

"P areng Romy ... it's beautiful poetry. Thank you so much for sharing this and for mentioning my name. I've made my peace now with my so called "mortal enemy," oops, friend now, I hope, when I addressed this brief email to Don: 'Let's move on now to bigger and better things. As you said, we were both 'hurt' by what we said to each other, and I am truly sorry for all of that.  So, let's don't refresh anymore those awful words that we've said to each other in anger and hate. Let's move on na to a good life, FREE OF HATE, ahead of us. Take care, pare, and Happy New Year!"

"Don answered: "Happy New Year to you, too!"  And that to me is a good enough response and an acceptance, I hope, to my offer of peace.

"As you said, Pareng Romy, in your last poetic stanzas:

"Waste not the time, waste not the day

"We can frolic in fun, wait for that day."

"Beautiful words, indeed.  As my good  and dearest friend, Gerry Garrison said in his email to all our colleagues, 'These kinds of emails are not the way.  Who wins when this done?  I can tell you ... no one does.  I believe apologies are the better way.  This is God's way, the Christian way.'

"Though different in words, I believe, both of you said the same thing.  Thank you both for your precious friendships.  Also, of course, to LOLO Bobby for his depth and wisdom and for his sharpness of wit and prolific humor that never fails to make me smile ... and guffaw."

PARENG DIDO'S SONATA: Then another colleague (I don't know his last name and where he's from. He just calls himself, "Dido," and I believe he's a citizen of the world), came in with his 14-stanza sonnet. Dido said Pareng Romy's poem "inspired" him to write his own poetic response. Here it is. Read it slowly and savor the richness of his words.

A SONNET FOR DON AND JESS

By Pareng Dido

(aabb rhyme-iambic pentameter)

To Pareng Don and Jesse, a sonnet of peace

In this new born year may quarrels decrease

What's the point of hurling barbs at each other

When the truth is you love one another

Where else can you find that exquisite joy

You bring each other when about to deploy

A barrage of words so profoundly vile

Why not replace them with an internet smile

You know in this life there's sunshine and rain

Good things and bad things, enjoyment and pain

Let us lift each other from a deep crevasse

so through the valley of death we shall safely pass

So my wish for this New Year not just to Jess and Don

Is good health to all, great sex for everyone....

Then ... Bart T., from the chilly, icy, windy city of Chicago, and the editor/publisher of Fil-Am MegaScenes. said this of Dido's sonnet:

Hi Dido ... Beautifully composed!  In the TRADITION of Shakespearean sonnets.  The first thing that I did was count the lines. There are 14. It's a sonnet indeed.  The last two lines sum it all.  Thanks for sharing.  Bart T.

MY RESPONSE TO DIDO: In my own unique TRADITION -- the BARAKO way, that is, I said this to Dido, et al:  

Hey Dido ... Thank you so much for sharing your ala-Shakespearean sonata.  I like very much your concluding line that said: "GREAT SEX FOR EVERYONE ..." I am not a poet, I am just a senile DOM. So, I can only manage this three-lined, unrhymed, ala-Japanese Haiku in answer to your poetry and Romy's.

Great sex is the greatest celebration of all

For septuagenarians like me ... Hallelujah!

Thanks ngarud, to Cialis, Levitra and Viagra. 

And that, Dear Readers, concludes this story of mine that LOLO Bobby Reyes, my publisher and editor, who said that some of my writings are "literary gems." Such commentary can come only from a true Barako, with a DOM mind. And, that's a celebration, too, for LOLO Bobby and me. We're soul brothers, you see.  JJ

PS: Romy Marquez added also Dido's sonnet to his earlier video now playing at The Filipino Web Channel, at this link:

">