Online Journal 1: Reflection on Jess Santiago’s Poem

The creative aspect of Jess Santiago’s poem ‘Kung ang Tula ay Isa Lamang’, goes beyond its free verse form. It shows how the poet’s choice of words can affect the reader’s experience while reading the text, as well as their desire to dig deeper into finding the more in-depth meaning behind it. How well an author delivers the message of their work depends on the reader’s interpretation.

Since the poem was written during the Martial Law Era, one can assume that the author was talking about the hardships that writers had to face during that time. This can be supported by certain phrases such as ‘isang taling kangkong’ or ‘isang bungkos ng mga talbos ng kamote’, which are known to be plants or food associated with poverty, famine, and difficult times. Associating these with making poetry can imply that times were so difficult for writers back then that the persona would rather receive stolen vegetables than write a poem that will not sell. This is just one interpretation of the poem.

When the persona referred to the poem as ‘pumpon ng mga salita’ it probably meant that it was meaningless, a bunch of gibberish, without significance. The phrase ‘Malaon nang pinamanhid ng dalita ang panlasa’ means that poverty has made the person’s taste buds numb. Taken literally, this will mean that the persona will be willing to eat anything as long as it fills them up, which can support the first interpretation of the poem. However, if we relate this with Rene O. Villanueva’s words, ‘nakakapangmanhid ang pamilyar’, it can imply that calling the poems ‘pumpon ng mga salita’ was not just to deem them insignificant but to say that these words and topics are so overused that they no longer make readers feel anything. The persona wanted to tell the writers that one must create something different in order to create a difference, within the readers and for the country as well.