Kwentong kalye, kantang kanto: A collection of Philippine urban poetry

• Main Author: De Joya, Dondi Paulo E.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2009
• Subjects: Poetry; Tagalog poetry > Philippines > Metro Manila; Philippine poetry (English); Modernism (Literature); Comparative Literature
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2386
• Institution: De La Salle University

This creative thesis is an attempt to portray the early 21st century Metro Manila streets and slums of the Philippines through poetry using the principles of Ezra Pound's Imagism/Vorticism and bagay poetry. The bagay tradition of ordinary and mundane language and the short, express-like and kinetic characteristics of Imagist/Vocalist poetry are used to capture the experiences and realities such as commuting, which has become an undeniable part of the Filipino's daily routine. Moreover, both traditions attempt to portray present issues such as poverty, increasing oil prices, pollution--everything that exemplifies the present mundane aspects of the country. By utilizing the common, mundane and blunt language of the people involved in the routine of commuting and the Metro Manila life, this work will express, as well as expound on, the different elements that Filipinos encounter during their daily urban encounters. This thesis does not only attempt to portray and capture, but to give a new familiarization on the routine Filipinos have--that what they undergo, no matter how they abhor or get used to it, is just as important as how they face their dreams and fears in their own context. The commuter's life, in other words, is part of their means to achieve their aspirations which, in turn, is imposed upon them and arouses diverse sentiments which this thesis will also attempt to give voice to. Lastly, this is an attempt to capture and give voice to this specific local experience this day and age and to add to the contemporary human experience.