Why I submit my poems to literary magazines?

(Image is from 11 Indie Magazines You Be Reading by Steve Watson, Electric Lit, January 21, 2020)

The following is an excerpt from my first post on my Ko-fi page, I'm a Litmag Freak*:

Now, why do I submit to literary magazines? Aside from the fact that I love reading and writing poetry, let me quote from the following two articles about literary magazines: 

From The New Yorker’s The Persistence of Litmags by Stephanie Burt (July 7, 2015): 

“A little magazine, as Jonathan Farmer, of At Length, explains, ‘depends on creating a community.’” (Incidentally, this article mentions the magazine DIAGRAM that has published two poems of mine.) 

From CNN Style’s Long-standing literary magazines are struggling to stay afloat. Where do they go from here? by Leah Asmelash (February 10, 2022): 

“The magazines are a runway, where new literary styles are tested and emerge. New voices break through.” (Incidentally, this article also mentions Protean magazine that likewise published a poem of mine.) 

So I submit to literary magazines because I want to belong to an international community of writers and have my small voice heard once in a while – subject to the discernment and mercy of editors.

*Initially, I wanted to use "junkie" instead of "freak" but I thought the former ain't "wholesome enough" for Ko-fi. 

My Takedown Highlights - Wrestling/Luta Livre

(Tbh, with this post, I just wanna figure out how Google AdSense works coz I received an email that my blog "is ready to show AdSense ads and start earning." The text below, except for my age, is taken verbatim from the description of my 2021 YouTube video above.)

At 47 years old and most probably arthritic, I believe it's about time to share a highlights video of my wrestling takedowns. I have been competing in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling since 1998 and in submission grappling since 2004 (and unfortunately lost some videos due to stolen cellphones, PCs that conked out and lost my files, etc.). Along the way, I have won gold medals in national and international competitions, and the most significant has to be in the 2016 ADCC South East Asia - Philippine International Open - intermediate division (https://adcombat.com/adcc-events/adcc...) and in the Greco-Roman event of the 2011 Philippine National Games ( https://mertos.blogspot.com/2011/06/?...). Sadly, after diligent efforts, these are the only clips of my takedowns that I can find now - and three of them are "only" from friendly sparring sessions. Still, as my first coach always told me, "The way you train is the way you fight!" (Yours truly is currently a purple belt in Brazilian Luta Livre under Mestre Afonso Cego, a black belt from Academia Budokan - Rio de Janeiro led by Mestre Joao Ricardo.) Video by Milo Sevilla (2021) Music: "Fight to WIn" by Sven Karlssonhttps://www.epidemicsound.com/track/N ...)

#LutaLivre #wrestling #catchwrestling #submissiongrappling #grappling #combatwrestling 

 

"Chris Rock Ran Into His Bully as an Adult” . . . Again?!

I transcribed the following from The Howard Stern Show’s September 28, 2020 episode, "Chris Rock Ran Into His Bully as an Adult” (you're welcome):

And you have this childhood trauma that you haven’t dealt with. And you think you’ve dealt with it because you’re on the radio and you talk about it and you made a lot of money. I think I dealt with it because I can write jokes about it. But I never dealt with it. It was a horrible existence. The closest character I can relate to is Tim Robbin‘s in The Shawshank (Redemption) – every day was hell.

– Chris Rock, Sept 28, 2020

I guess Chris Rock relived his childhood trauma recently . . .

C'mon now! You don't stand up for your wife by slapping a stand-up comedian!

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Check out the list of my published poems here, scattered among literary magazines the world over. (This blog is really on life support -- except for that list which I continually update each time a poem of mine gets published. Obviously, the recent high-profile assault/bullying incident compelled me to make another post.)

Mga Kawawang Tao ni Pablo Neruda (w/ video)

Ito po ang aking pagsalin sa Filipino ng tulang Poor Fellows ni Pablo Neruda (na syempre ay orihinal na sinulat sa Espanyol). Andito rin po ang aking pagbasa, sa video.

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Ito pong teksto, maaari ko pang ituring na "work in progress," at pwede pang pagusapan. Pero ang video, yun na yun. Pwede na lang akong mag-upload ng bago.

Salamat!

My portentous 2010 article on the National University Bulldogs

It was middle of 2010 when I interviewed sports leaders of the National University at the "relatively new state-of-the-art gymnasium which wholly occupies the top floor of (its) one year old 8 storey high Main Building," for my article Know your UAAP school: National University for the Philippine Online Chronicles. (I can't post this July 6, 2010 article directly on Facebook, as it has a "blocked link." In fact, I just found out that it can't even be redirected from this blog! Anyway, here's the link, which unfortunately now leads to internet limbo: thepoc2/features/sportacular/features/8537-know-your-uaap-school-national-university.)

Some more of the then-auspicious quotes from the article, which hinted of much brighter days:

A case in point for the Bulldogs’ seriousness in its long-term plan is Alyja Santiago. At 6 foot 3 and only 14 years old, Alyja was UAAP junior women’s Rookie of the Year for the UST Tigers. Now she is a second year high school student in NU, joining her elder siblings Aleona and Axel who play for the senior women’s and senior men’s volleyball teams, respectively. It is only by next season when the Bullpups’ volleyball team will be unleashed to officially compete in the UAAP, and it will be three more years before she joins the pack of Bulldogs. So this year will be spent studying, training, and competing with her alma mater’s team in other less prestigious competitions. It will be a considerably long wait before she tastes UAAP action again. This notwithstanding, she and her school believe–along with other young recruits in NU’s incubator who are training while completing the required residency–everything will be worth the wait.

 “Right now the National University (NU) equals or even surpasses Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) and De La Salle University (DLSU) when it comes to benefits granted to scholastic athletes and coaches,” claims NU men’s senior volleyball team new head coach Oliver Almadro, formerly at the helm of the ADMU Blue Eagles team.

 “It is safe to say that NU provides the needs of our athletes,” shares men’s senior basketball team debuting head coach Eric Gonzales, fresh from his stint as assistant coach of the Coca-Cola Tigers in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). [...]In June 2008, tycoon Henry Sy, through his SM Group of Companies, acquired a 60% stake in the educational institution. The SM Group in its website pledges “all-out support…to strengthen the university as an institution with new infrastructure, equipment and focus on academic excellence.” [...]

 It remains to be seen if and when the Bulldogs will eventually prove that the perennial UAAP top contenders are reigning on borrowed time. What is certain is that the NU community expects more bite than bark from their more ferocious Bulldogs this 73rd season, and that the Philippine Sports Commission can learn a thing or two about sports administration from the National University.

And now, we all know that the NU Bulldogs won the basketball championship of UAAP’s 77th season in 2014, and Alyja "Jaja" Santiago is one of Philippine volleyball’s brightest stars. ;)

Was the killing field, green?

"Greenfields," by The Brothers Four, favorite song of my maternal uncle, Atty. Hermon C. Lagman (http://nameless.org.ph/lagman), labor lawyer, journalist, poet; desaparecido, on record as the first lawyer in the Philippines to suffer enforced disappearance under the Marcos dictatorship in the 70's. Perhaps ironic that, as in the song's lyrics, we "keep on waiting." And that he may have been buried alive in one of those -- and remains there, still.

This coming May, the 40th anniversary of what has been so far a futile search for his remains. Still, our family searches -- in fields green or otherwise.

Atty. Hermon C. Lagman

(Date of Birth: February 12, 1945, Date of Disappearance: May 11, 1977)

From his profile courtesy of Bantayog ng mga Bayani:

He was among the lawyers arrested after the declaration of martial law. He was kept in prison for two months without charges. From detention, he wrote to his mother Cecilia:

“At sunrise today, while standing idly in the morning cold, I saw two sparrows perched together … (They) looked at us human beings here, and I looked at them. They seemed to have more understanding than some men … At noon today, two clients came … They cried .. They will be calling the house for the schedule of their cases … I always dream here of all of you. We have a surfeit of energy for dreams.”

On G.K. Chesterton, Cheese, and Poetry

The article G.K. Chesterton, the clown prince of Catholicism by Evan H. Harrington, published here in Aleteia last Apr 01, 2017, ends with the following quote from the legendary writer and intellectual:

The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.

If that is so, then (as my comment on the article), “(I guess I) should be more proud now that my poem (To Someone Who Along Was Not, lower half of inserted page), published almost 20 years ago (in Philippines Free Press), mentions ‘cheese’ in its very first line:

(Mixed feelings: While I remain grateful to the esteemed magazine, and still proud of the fact that it's my first published poem, I'm now quite embarrassed with this piece of juvenilia.)”

Here’s the complete list of my published poems, with links.

Thanks! :-)