Creative Writing in Photography-Poetry

Lesson in Literary and Music Composition 

A Wild Orchid and the Sun

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

  

A good friend taught me this approach to composition.  I might as well share with you. It's a wonderful experience:

• Study the three related photos.  
• Compose a poem of three stanzas in traditional or contemporary style, for each photo. 
• Read your poem aloud while intently looking at the photos. 
• Try humming a melody that fits the scene.  
• Transpose the wordings into lyrics.  
• Sing out your composition. Try on the piano, flute or violin.
• Present your work to friends. Later, to critics.
• Back to the "drawing board". Revise, modify.
• Present in class or gathering.

It takes time, practice and a number of revisions until you come up with the final output.  Isn't beautiful, rewarding, fulfilling? ~

ASSIGNMENT: A list of native games

Revival of traditional games is an alternative to too much exposure to computer games, proliferation of electronic toys, and loafing. 

PHOTO: Teachers playing sungka as a break from the classroom. avr 

This topic is highly recommended  as a thesis subject, both on the undergraduate and graduate levels.  Or term or research paper.  Your school will simply like it.  Suggest to your teacher.  

On the community level, get your local leaders organize competitions of native games, say during fiesta, summer vacation, educational fair.

But first, explain each of these traditional games, their history and how they are played. Provide photos and illustrations of each game.  Better still, go out and practice outdoor photography. Visit the neighborhood, plaza, and side streets where these games are played.  Interview the kids and their guardians. 

This is also a good research in sociology and communication. Why not science and technology? You may show your work to your barangay leaders, teachers, and of course your friends.  

Why don't you join the initiative - a local movement on the renewal of our native games and sports.  Add more traditional games and sports to this list.  It will be a great favor to our readers and visitors of this Blog.    

Dr Abe V Rotor
Former professor UST, DLSU-D, SPU-QC

1.      Laban ng gagamba (gagambang hari)

2.      Sungka (PHOTO above)

3.      Patintero

4.      Taguan

5.      Luksong Tinik

6.      Tirador

7.      Sumpak

8.      Sumpit

9.      Kariton lata

     10.  Pagulong

11. Sipa
12. Piko’
13. Jolens
14. Trumpo
15. Yoyo (PHOTO)
16. Luksong lubid
17. Karrera sa tubig
18. Tatching (coin)
19. Kara cruz
20. Sabong Karera sa bao
21. Palo sebo (PHOTO)
22. Kawit (finger wrestling)
23. Bunong braso (arm wrestling)
24. Juego de anilyo (kabayo) Hit the pot
25. Patpat palo
26. Pabitin27.  Juego de prenda11.  

28.  Carabao race

29.  Bitao/sabong (no slasher)

30.  Basagan ng itlog

31.  Rubber band sa lupa

32.  Pitik bulag

33.  Jack and poi

34.  Chinese checker

35.  Chinese garter

36.  Tumbang preso (can)

37.  Sikyo (bihagan)

38.  Tik-tak-toe

39.  Jack stone

40.  Tag of war

41.  Kabayo kabayohan

42.  Bahay bahayan

43.  Luto lutoan

44.  Bubbles of gumamela or tubing bakod

45.  Leaf propeller

46.  Paper plane

47.  Knife throwing

48.  Handkerchief parachute (last to reach ground)

49.  Stone throwing (farthest)

50.  Swimming (fastest, farthest)

51.  Diving (longest under water)

52.  Track and field (fastest),

53.  Obstacle race

54.  Sepak takrao (Indo)

55.  Sack race (PHOTO)

56.  March to Jerusalem (foreign)

57.  Fencing

58.  Sarangola fight

59.  Karera sa tayakad

60.  Native Judo and Boxing, ~

Stick Insect - Master of Mimicry and Camouflage

Dr Abe V Rotor

Stick insect, UPLB Laguna

Mimicry and camouflage this insect's gift,
by nature's law of deceit and conceit,
compensation for the small, shy and weak,
and others no less, strength of the meek.

More than the tale of the pin in haystack,
the tiger's eyes in the forest at dark;
a lonely soul promenading in the park,
thousands at their bid living apart.

How empty it seems our world thus appear,
yet life is full with little in stir;
deeper the sense of stillness and fear,
that makes sweeter the reason to cheer. ~

  
Other species of stick insect (Internet)

Global Warming as Seen on a Crystal Ball

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Global Warming in a Crystal Ball, acrylic painting by the author (circa 2000)

I see the world losing its symmetry, a disfigured globe with parts missing, displaced, losing its original shape;

I see the world in layers and divisions heretofore unknown, threatening dynamic stability called homeostasis;

I see the world fiery in many parts as volcanoes erupt in greater frequency and intensity, and simultaneously;

I see the world in deceiving colors of blue, green, gray, yellow, spectrum of disaster on land, water and air;

I see the world barren as deserts expand, farmlands turn into wastelands, shorelines swallowed by the sea;
 
I see the world scarred by fault lines, and new cracks of the earth’s crust, triggering more and stronger earthquakes;

I see the world in ruins where cities once grew into megacities, now virtually a jungle of concrete and steel;

I see the world pitch dark at night where there were more lights on the ground than stars in the sky;
 
I see the world decimated of its once rich biodiversity, countless species endangered, others forever gone;

I see the world pitch dark at night where once there were more lights on the ground than stars in the sky;

I see the world decimated of its once rich biodiversity, countless species endangered, others forever gone;

I see the world “the glory that was Greece, the grandeur that was Rome,” with history repeating itself;

I see the world with the frivolities of modern living giving way to the revival of a simpler life style;

I see the world rebuilding from its past like the mythical bird Phoenix, people of all ages and walks of life cooperating. ~

Author's Note: Article published in Greater Lagro Gazette, community newspaper of Barangay Greater Lagro QC, (Oct-Dec 2017 Issue)

Waterhole and Other Poems

"Tranquility reigns on her face, rage in her breast..." avr
Dr Abe V. Rotor

Waterhole, AVRotor 2009

1. I walked the bridge to its far end and beyond,

And down the river to the sea I cast my pole.  

It was a fight I fought, it was no longer game,

And it was neither fish nor dream I caught.

2. Tranquility reigns on her face, rage in her breast,

If beauty exudes best from a spring of force,

I do not wonder at the shyness of a crest,

And the power of a single rose.

3. I touched the towering figure and I was touched,

Transported to Gulliver’s land for a moment;

To meet the maker, a simple man from the hills,

Unschooled, yet his burin sings the glory of Ancient Greece.

4. Pygmies make giants, for the little man dreams of what he misses.

Humble is he, painstakingly working on his stead,

Until a Genie rises from his hands, mirror of a great soul.

Lo, a pupil I am, doubting my skill, my goal. 

5. Many years ago you had another name -

Gleaners, and work was also game.

Now it’s all work and the art of the vulture,

And those with fangs and ugly mane.

But if none is waste and waste is useful -

Would your breed thrive just the same? (PHOTO)

6. For just once the world is mine

With rowdy friends and I,

Happily with a jug of wine,

Words come easy, ‘Aye, Aye!’ ” 

7. Through time, humanity has changed through use

Of its environment for man’s needs through abuse,

From adaptation to modernization,

All in the name of civilization.

8. Pleasance to you youth, bright as the sun;

The world be at war or be at peace.

Ask not where have all the flowers gone;

Seasons come, and seasons go at ease. 

9. Rage and break, rage and break,

On the cold wall and be free;

Make the sky and the river meet

Under a rainbow by the sea.  
                                                 

             

10. Who cares about the broken bridge in summer?
When fishing poles bend to the weight of catch,
Young and old wait for the pot to shimmer.
Everything’s silent save the breeze and chime,
And river flowing in the idleness of time. (INTERNET PHOTO)~

I love the rainbow

I love the rainbow

Dr Abe V Rotor

Rainbow across the Bamban River, Tarlac

I love the rainbow

because it holds a pot of gold

that glitters in kaleidoscope,

and prism on its huge crown,

where lovely deities play I'm told;

it's reborn when worn and old

into a cathedral in the sky

cherubim sweetly sing in praise, 

humbling the proud and bold;

it guides the lost from the fold

and those searching for heaven -

a rainbow suddenly appears

whenever faith grows cold. ~

Little Prince and the Owl

Dr Abe V Rotor 
 
Little Prince and the Owl. Mural background by the author 2016 

Wonder why missed the owl in the novel,
The Little Prince by Saint-Exupery,
wiser than the fox and the snake;  
and wonder too, why missed the eagle. ~

Morning at the UST Botanical Garden

Dr Abe V Rotor

An On-the-Spot Painting at the UST Botanical garden by the author, 
with the tallest tree Alstonia scholaris, locally known as dita. as 
principal subject. (24"x38")

Morning at the UST Botanical Garden

It is misty, it is foggy, here at the garden,
or it must be smog in the city air;
and the early rays pierce through like spears,
yet this is the best place for a lair.

But the artist must be provoked, challenged;
for peace can't make a masterpiece;
only a troubled soul do rise where others fall,
where ease and good life often miss.

This lair is where the action is, the battlefield,
where pure and polluted air meet,
where a garden in a concrete jungle reigns,
where nature's trail ends in a street. ~

Art, where is art, when the message is unclear,
colors, colors, what color is blind faith?
what color is rage, what color is change?
colors be humble - black is your fate. ~

Mass Species Extinction through Deforestation

"Nature, and not man, determines the species composition and combination in a forest." avr 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Tamaraw (Anoa mindorensis) skeleton, Museum of Natural History, UPLB Laguna

Orangutan in captivity, Avilon Zoo, Rizal

Wild Pigeon (bato bato), Tikob Lake, Quezon

Parakeet, Parks and Wildlife Nature Center, QC

Philippine Hawk, Parks and Wildlife Nature Center, QC

Ecological genocide. There is possibly no other term that can appropriately picture the magnitude of destruction by deforestation. The cutting down a whole forest evidently eliminates all inhabitants. While a number of them could escape and find shelter somewhere, most of the residents being habitat-specific, cannot survive without or outside their original abode or beyond the boundaries of their niches.

This is understandable. As an ecosystem, the forest is a product of evolution. Organisms evolve with their natural habitat, acquiring traits in the process. Nature is patient so to speak, to give chance for organisms to acquire the Darwinian fitness, otherwise they will perish. Many have gained dominance in terms of number. Others simply are persistent like the dragonfly that is older than the dinosaur and has remained a popular forest resident. Acquisition of protective or aggressive mimicry is a product of long years of evolution that shows that it is effective adaptation. A classical example is the relationship of fig trees with wasps that pollinate their flowers. Not even water or wind or man can effectively do it. More specific than this is the fact that each kind of fig has a particular wasp pollinator that carries out the job. And each kind of fig has a specific fruiting season, providing continuous supply of food to many animals, such as monkeys and ground fowls.

Premised by this knowledge, we now begin to realize that reforestation is not and will never be able to replace the original forest. Reforestation efforts are merely providing a temporary vegetative cover that cannot be compared with the structure of the original forest, much less to compare it with the latter’s productive efficiency and biodiversity. Here are other premises to support this contention.

1. Nature, and not man, determines the species composition and combination in a forest. We may be referring to a woodland - not a forest - when we see Gmelina, Ipil-ipil and Teak plantations. These are intended to produce commercial wood or pulpwood for paper.

2. The landscape and the forest developed together - geographically, geologically, and biologically. Streams and springs are full because trees store rainwater in the ground; the roots and natural vegetative cover check erosion and siltation. Thus the death of a forest means also the death of streams, drying of river, silting of lakes and ponds into swamp, meandering of rivers, etching of gullies on hills and mountainsides, to mention but a few consequences.

3. Abandoned deforested areas continue to lose not only soil fertility; they lose the entire soil structure, beginning with the most fertile topsoil to the clay foundation next to bedrock. In short, through erosion the foothold built for thousands of years could be lost permanently. We can only surmise what kinds of plant grow in such situation. It is not surprising to see wasteland of talahib and cogon grass on former forestlands.

4. The forest creates a mini-climate. Forest attracts clouds. Transpiration enhances precipitation so that rain occurs anytime of the day, hence the name rainforest. All this can be permanently lost with the destruction of the forest. This explains why desertification (formation of desert) starts at deforested areas. Southern Cebu, in spite of its proximity to sea, is a typical example where one can observe the pathetic gnawing process. This can be observed also on the Sierra Madre starting in Bulacan, and on extensive areas along the narrow strip of the Ilocos region.~