LIRA Poetry Workshop

Last night, my snail mail Gmail was the harbinger of good news — I’ve been accepted into this year’s Filipino poetry workshop to be held by the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo, more popularly known as LIRA.

LIRA was founded by National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario (a.k.a. “Rio Alma”). He’s going to deliver the first lecture to the workshop’s fellows — all fourteen of us, according to the email’s recipient count — but I’m not sure if he’ll conduct more lectures after that.

One thing’s sure, though — I won’t have any excuse not to blog in the next two months. I’ll be having plenty of blog fodder, as the workshop will run from June 2 until August 5, 2007. I’ll be honing my Filipino wordsmithing every Saturday and Sunday, from 9 AM to 5 PM. Suddenly my weekends are booked!

I’m thrilled with this chance to once again learn new things inside the best of places — UP, my alma mater. Of course, there’s also that tinge of nervousness blended in, akin to what I always felt during the first day of classes, from prep school all the way to college. Heck, I’m just probably getting anxious waiting for the lit criticism to roll in, haha.

Wish me luck!

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Of course, thereâ€™s also that tinge of nervousness blended in…

I miss that feeling SO DAMN MUCH. Really there’s nothing to look forward to that gives you that EXACT feeling from now on. :(

Anyway, congratulations on making it. ^_^ This is a very good sign, believe me.

nothing to look forward to? hmm…how about you go back to the halls of learning once again? to learn or to educate, you choose :P

thanks thanks thanks. i’m treating this one not as an achievement, but as a learning process, which is ultimately more important. ;)

If I were to go back to studying, I don’t want to stop. And that means I don’t want to do anything other than studying. (No teaching, no racketeering.)

The Corsair is going back to school. :) Congrats man.

Heck, Iâ€™m just probably getting anxious waiting for the lit criticism to roll in, haha.

Lol. Seems like the same feeling I get whenever I put myself in trouble.

ia, learning forever…that is like a dream. very feasible once you’re a millionaire and earning residual income, heheh.

geo, thanks! don’t worry about getting into trouble — you always get out of them ;)

congrats, philip! when it rains, it pours, indeed! enjoy the workshop, and we look forward to reading your poems. :)

I got your text this morning. :) Sure I’m available saturday after 5. It’s better we do it this weekend as I’m going out of the country starting next weekend (June 9-17).

Thanks in advance! :D

[...] I’ll be at UP Diliman tomorrow to attend the first day of Rio Alma’s LIRA Filipino poetry workshop. Morning: orientation of the workshop’s fourteen fellows. Afternoon: a lecture held by Rio Alma himself. [...]

gibbs, thanks! i do hope my poor sleep habits don’t wreck my LIRA weekends…my brain is usually blank on saturdays and sundays. maybe i’ll publish some tagalog pieces here in the future, or create a separate blog for them. :)

geo, another business trip? i should ask you for pasalubong then! just kidding. ;) well, pepoy, garro, and ia all told me they’re good to go for saturday — i’ll just text you guys again so you won’t forget, hehe.

goodluck mamaya! ^_^ at super congrats ulit! :)

Congrats and good luck. :)

Thanks for the wonderful treat, it was a fun. :)

Btw, I created a new blog. Please check it out. http://breadcrumbstrail.blogspot.com/

[...] And lastly, because I’m back in the University’s hallowed grounds, studying once again. No, I didn’t take a second undergraduate course (History? Journalism? Creative Writing?) or masterals in Computer Science. I’m three weeks into a six month-long poetry workshop under the tutelage of National Artist Rio Alma and the literary organization LIRA. (It’s this same workshop, with its mentally exhausting homeworks, that has pushed my blog posts into the brink of extinction.) [...]

[...] I’m nearly halfway through the two-month “main course” of the LIRA poetry workshop, which began last June 2. Three corrections to my first LIRA post are in order: [...]

jenjen, maraming salami! :P

ederic, thank you very much :)

geo, no prob. blogroll updated!

Wow! Virgilio Almario was alreaady Virgilio Almario in my college days, and he’s still around! Great to know that!

I also like to write in Filipino. I am particularly inclined to playwriting. Ah, how I wish! :)

yes, and fortunately for the Philippine lit scene, it looks like he’s still going to be around for a long time! :D

playwriting is virgin territory for me. lucky you!

oyt, this is wat i was talking about [remember me? i'm rhodge's frend].. i googled ‘filipino poetry’ ata..

makoy, siempre naman naaalala kita. thanks for dropping by, man!

[...] I walked into the taping with my English vocabulary having just woken up from a reveille. I’ve used English sparingly since I entered the For-Tagalog-Only workshop almost half a year ago. I think I didn’t screw up conversing with Nancy. Or did I. Grah. [...]

[...] The journey that began half a year ago is ending on a night of metaphors and imagery. [...]

[...] In the same manner that I ended my first LIRA-centric post — back when I was still on the outside looking in — so I will end this post with the words: [...]

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