I’ve finally dove deeper into my consciousness where the dialect I was born with wrapped me like a cloth-swing. And in a magical instant, I began writing these haiku. What flight!
I was born in Ilocos Norte, a province in the northernmost tip of the Philippine archipelago. Our native ancestors are known to have migrated from Malaya. But my own ancestry is heavily Spanish. I grew up in my town but after I left for the university in Manila when I was fifteen, I hardly went back home, thrice at the most. Also, I hardly had the chance to speak Iluko, my dialect, anymore. English has been my language socially, at school and at work. Tagalog or Pilipino, our national language, is what I use colloquially.
Iluko, my dialect (the Philippines has 87 dialects) is Indo-Malay rooted. The syllables are pronounced as written. It has no dipthongs. All ‘a’s’ are short, all ‘u’s’ are long ooo’s. We read it like the Spaniards do, except for the c’s and z’s that we pronounce as ‘s’s’.
I tried to translate these haiku pieces but could only paraphrase the verses or wrote what comes closest in English. I hope you will enjoy the sound at least!
Iluko haiku
by Alegria Imperial
1.
batbato inta
kapanagan
sabsabong ti sardam
(stones on the
riverbank
dawn flowers)
2.
pegges ti karayan
sarsaritam
idi kalman
(roar
the river
yesterday’s promise)
3.
daluyon iti
tengga’t aldaw
ararasaas mo
(billows
at high tide
your whispers)
4.
bulan nga
agpadaya
nagpakada kadi?
(setting moon
in the east
did you say goodbye?)
5.
inururot
a pagay
tedted ti lulua
(pulled strands
of rice grain
tear drops)
Published in LYNX February 2009
Posted in PoemShape
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