Poetry, like all forms of literature, is a means in which a writer expresses the thoughts and ideas of his era. All writings, in one way or another, reflect the evolution and culture of a particular time or society.

 

Over the years, we have seen Filipino poems change with the passage of time. Gone are the days of formal, strict lines written with perfect meter. A lot of poets today have taken to writing “free verse” – poetry without rhyme or meter.

 

In the Philippines, an interesting new kind of poetry emerged when Rolando Tinio, a Philippine National Artist, started writing “taglish” poems in the late 60’s to the early 70’s. “Taglish”, a mixture of Tagalog and English, emerged when school-aged children started combining their native dialect (Tagalog) with the school system’s official medium of instruction (English). The following is an excerpt of one of Tinio’s taglish poems:

 

Valediction sa Hillcrest 

Pagkacollect ng Railway Express sa aking things 
(Derecho na iyon sa barko while I take the plane),  
Inakyat kong muli ang N-311 at dahil dead of winter, 
Nakatopcoat at galoshes akong 
Nagright turn sa N wing ng mahabang dilim 
(Tunnel yatang aabot hanggang Tondo. 
Kinapa ko ang switch sa hall. 
Sa isang pitik, nagshrink ang imaginary tunnel, 
Nagparang ataol. 
 
Or catacomb, 
Strangely absolute ang impression 
Ng hilera ng mga pintong nagpuprusisyon: 
Individual identification, parang mummy causes, 
De-nameplate, de-numero, de-hometown address. 
Antiseptic ang atmosphere, streamlined yet/ 
E filing cabinet. 
 
Filing, hindi naman deaths, ha. 
Remembrances, oo. Yung medyo malapot 
Dahil, alam mo na I’m quitting the place 
After two and a half years. 
After two and a half years, 
Di man nagkatiyempong mag-ugat, ika nga, 
Siyempre’y naging attached, parang morning glory’ng 
Mahirap mapaknit sa alambreng trellis

 

Tinio’s taglish, and quite humorous, poems became a quick hit. A lot of people felt that he gave a voice to the generation – one that was becoming increasingly global. Some purists, however, argued that Taglish was a form of bastardization of both languages – Filipino and English. They worried that encouraging the young to read and write in Taglish would make them incompetent in both.

 

Personally, I think that both sides are right. Taglish poetry does give a voice to a rather big part of society – the young, middle class Filipinos. After all, just like how no one speaks old English anymore, no one talks “Balagtasan” these days. Taglish, whether we like it or not, is the reality of today. And if poetry the main aim of poetry is to reflect society, then Taglish poetry is inevitable.

 

However, this does not mean that the young are excused from learning proper English and Filipino. After all, isn’t it a well-known adage that you have to “know the rules before you break them”?  Rolando Tinio, before he started writing Taglish poetry, wrote excellent poems in both Filipino and English, respectively.

 

So, If you are planning to take liberties with language, with poetry’s form and measures, then you better be well-versed in its rules first. Do I make myself malinaw?

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