Vince Honrado Imbat, Los Baños, Laguna Vince Honrado Imbat is a Los Baños-based Pangasinense writer exploring the potential of walking as embodied worldmaking and contemplative practice. His essays and poems, recognized by the Gawad Bienvenido Lumbera and Gawad F. Sionil Jose, engage with the tensions of history, language, and the sacred embedded in landscapes and places. His work has appeared in Katipunan, Mountain Beacon, Northern Dispatch, and Rappler, and his poetry and photography have been exhibited in Laguna, Cavite, and Rizal. He is a fellow of the Ateneo National Writers Workshop, Palihang Rogelio Sicat, the Bienvenido Lumbera Seminar-Workshop on Translation, and the Writings-in-Progress Traveling Writing Workshop of Savage Mind and the Goethe-Institut Philippinen. A freelance writer and editor, he also teaches poetry at the Philippine High School for the Arts.



Renacimiento


Issue No.12
						            tan saray un-uni na anuyiao
				            naabuëk a tawën



Pigaran dakot na asin lay insibuag ko'd bintanak. Mandongilngil ira’y musian managogul. 
Akin kinëmkëm so dërlëng mon bëngër? Anta manpapanabos ni lambëngat. Piaët a
makabolos so ilalam. Singamuno inkolada'y kawës a apagëw. A kuan mo no manuk a 
binmayës na bagu to.

            Among all the natives of these islands, the Pangasinanes appear to me to be the most 
            active and industrious, very energetic in producing profit and knowing how to make a 
            scantly capital increase in all possible manner.

Nagmaliw a pugaro'y Parnasu. Amagamaga'y dalin, tan baog — nanparan limmëtak. Anggan 
say ësaës, nakatan la. Katon natan ët singa ta bulong a apiglas. Ontëtëdtër so dinmanum a 
liknaan. A nën kalabian da ni'n ampopo. Dalayonë'y tarëm so sankagatin a pitëk. Ta pian 
manlukon a amayamay a tëpët. Naipaway lay kawës a atalimagmagan. Kasanlilikna labusa'y 
mansasabon posapos na ilalam. Lobir ya amalur, angga'd natan ag ni apaksot na dila ton 
nanaandi bubuninëngë'y kisame. Ag makarëën so kamarërwak, mangakalitong na dungap. 
Lakapën to ka anggano ag mampapatanir. Tinmaynan ak ta pian naanap ko’y dilak ya abayag 
kon alingwanan a gawak. Tuan aliwan magano so mangitilak. Ëd insaëw da'ray labitëwën 
aliwa lan malinak so labin pitutuyawan ko ëd ilalam. Gala ëd silir kon ambilungët. Sika so 
anlong kon ag nasumpal.
 
 

Renaissance

translation
 
						            and songs of sparrows
				            of a drunken sky



I have thrown handfuls of salt on my window. The wailing muses falter. Why do you knead 
your stubborn veneration? But it is only moribund. Imagination is understanding, freed. 
Sundried clothes harden as if soaked in glue. Like a bird borrowing its feathers.

            Among all the natives of these islands, the Pangasinanes appear to me to be the most 
            active and industrious, very energetic in producing profit and knowing how to make a 
            scantly capital increase in all possible manner.

Become the ridge of Parnassus. Soil and skin parched, cracked. Even silence has run dry. And 
so we are as leaves, torn. Liquified sentiments trickle. Cradled since last night. Blade hacks a 
step of mud. To be pregnant with countless questions. Bring out the forgotten laundry. 
Briefly, spilling desires of imagination undresses. Rope that has binded, until now left uncut 
by his tongue, vanishing as he examines the ceiling. My soul remains restless, rummaging for 
nothing. Embraces you even without taking leave. I left to look for my tongue that I have 
forgotten for so long was mine. To depart is never easy—this is true. Because stars have 
strayed, the placid night of my visions is gone. Come in my darkened room. You are the 
poem I will never finish.
  
  
*
 

"Renacimiento" and its English translation draws from the following references: "Balikas na Salita," "Dakat," and "Anlong" by Alma Ariola-Nepascua; Provincia de Pangasinan, 1819 by Ildefonso de Aragon; "Sonito 178," "Sonito 188," "Sonito 129," and "Sonito 283" by Santiago Villafania; "Bisita," "Sikaton Agla Ompawil," "Abalang," and "Lingwanan" by Gloria Alesna; "Tongtong nën Lea," "Mamidwan Ibutay na Agëw," "Ëras na Laman; Ëras na Kanunotan," and "Pluman Makabilay" by Lexon Castillo; "Pangimaton," "Inaro Da'y Musia," and "Nambabangil a Bonikëw" by Melchor Orpilla. The photograph is originally from the Keystone View Company and is now in the public domain.

Gawat


Issue No.5
Agmi la inekas may mais ya impaagew mid kalsada
ta kien
tayaketek la tan nitan lay mabalasubos ya uran
ta kien
wala kuno amoy super typhoon
tan kien
diya ondulan so mata to naani nu labi.

Anggapo met so anggan kariton min panginan
ta kien
aderal la may kuliglig ya babayesen mid si Marlon
tan kien
anggapoy ibayar mid nu siopa tay walay luganan to
ta kien
gawat.

Mankulibenben ka la siriy tuwalya
ta kien
ibaan mo ak ya ompawil dimad kalsada
ta kien
kalkalnaan tan kopkopen nu antoy nakopkop ta
ta kien
isako tan amin.
 
 

Tagsalat

salin
‘Di na namin kinuha ang mais na ibinilad nami sa kalsada
dahil kuwan
umaambon na at nariyan na ang malakas na ulan
dahil kuwan
meron daw atang super typhoon
at kuwan
dito dadaan ang mata niya mamayang gabi.

Wala man lang naman kasi kaming maski kariton na paglalagyan
dahil kuwan
sira na ‘yong kuliglig na hinihiram namin kay Marlon
at kuwan
wala kaming pambayad sa sino mang may sasakyan
dahil kuwan
tagsalat.

Ipambalabal mo na ‘tong tuwalya
dahil kuwan
samahan mo ‘kong bumalik sa kalsada
dahil kuwan
unti-untiin nating tipunin kung ano ang matitipon natin
dahil kuwan
isako natin lahat.