Exhibit C: Sa Poetry Writing Workshop Class

ni Vladimeir Gonzales

"Sa poetry, you let things take shape,"
sabi ni Tinio; "that's bullshit!"
sabi ng propesor
pagkatapos isara ang libro.
What about authorial control daw,
what about the lipunan,
and insight, and katuturan, and all
that kinda deep stuff.
May pulitika daw ang panulat;
if not, you're just simply walang isperma
kasi you don't have balls.
"You know sir, that's just pure shite,"
sabi ng bagot/pa-goth, adik-adik na classmate
who just read Irvine Welsh,
"that's pure existential angst."
Jigsaw puzzle akong nakinig
sa odds and ends ng kanyang pagpapaliwanag.
What about individualism daw,
hyper reality, the postmodern condition?
What about decentered centers,
borderless borders, disconnections from
collective consciousness, what about that?
"Si sir talaga, such an Immanuel Kant,"
bulong ng isa pang classmate
who's halfway reading Sophie's World-
for another class, of course-
at by golly, bigla akong tinawag ng prof!
"What about you, mister, what do you think?"
Sagot ko naman, "well, sir, this is
just, like, like my Humanities elective
so fuck you,
fuck you all, I guess
(I hope I don't get 5.0 for this).