(Note: In paying tribute to my late youngest sister Rosalinda, aka Lina (who passed away recently), I'd like to share with you one of five of my Ilokano poems below (included in the anthology book REKUERDO/MEMENTO, published in 2009 by IWAH Press/GUMIL Hawaii) and was translated in English by Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.)
Iti Panagkatangkatang*
by Chris A. Quilpa
Ay, adda ka'd pay mamaayna
No maysa a kabsat simmina
A di man laeng nagpakada
Pimmusayen dinton makita.
Iti panagkatangkatang
Ken panagkalkallautang
Kakabsat a nagwalang
Iti telepono nga agpapatang.
Rigat piman iti gapuna
Iyaadayo iti lugar a kakaisuna.
Todo a panawan ti nakayanakan
Tapno rang-ay mabirokan.
Iliw ti tumunggal maysa
Awan balor a kapadpadna
Pinanawan a lagip iti denna
Biagen tapno agsantak rikna.
In Aimless Wandering
Ay, is there something worthy
If a sibling has passed away
She has not said her goodbye
And then all she does is die.
In our aimless wandering
In our going to places seeking
Siblings we have not seen
The telephone does the talking.
We run away from this poverty
Leave the place of our misery
To get hold of something better
We leave behind our land forever.
Our sorely missing each other
Is one feeling beyond compare
The memory og the beloved dear
We keep alive to make us feel better.
*Published in 2009, in REKUERDO/MEMENTO: Estrangement and Homing in Ilokano Poetics (Edited, Translated, and with A Critical Introduction by Aurelio Solver Agcaoili, PhD, of the University of Hawaii at Manoa) by IWAH Press/GUMIL Hawaii in collaboration with TMI Global Press and the Academy for Ilokano and Amianan Studies. Dr. Agcaoili currently coordinates the University of Hawaii Ilokano Language and Literature Program, the only Ilokano-degree granting program in the world.
