Driving me crazy

By Virginia Pasalo

 

DRIVING dilemma (Part 4) will be posted on October 2 as I am deep into the preparation for two international poetry festivals where I will be presenting Kiew, an anthology of tree poems, the output of a collaborative effort of the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission (PHCC), the International Visitor Leadership Program-Philippines (IVLP-Phils.), the Women in Development (WID) Foundation , World Festival of Poetry (WFP) and the Writers International Network (WIN-Canada) advocating to save the trees in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines.

Kiew is a project under the program Asia-Pacific Ecopoetree Festival which aims to promote history, culture, art and environmental activism as means to social change by providing a platform for celebration and discussion, encouraging interfaith dialogues and promoting activities towards a culturally-aware, environmentally-conscious and friendlier world.

The international membership of the World Festival of Poetry (WFP) agreed to meet in India on October 11-22, 2016 to visit ecological sanctuaries and read poetry. Some of the poems to be read will be coming from this anthology.  I was also invited to read a paper on environmental activism and change at the 11^th International Writers’ Festival-India sponsored by the India Inter-Continental Cultural Association (Regd.) Chandigarh  and the Department of English, Mohan Lal Sukhadia University with the theme, “Literature and World Peace” to be held October 14-15, 2016  at Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.

I will be in India from October 11-17, 2016 for this purpose, and to visit some friends who wrote for the anthology and give copies of the book to them. From India, I will be proceeding to Morocco for the 4^th International Poetry Festival sponsored by the Moroccan Poetry Association with the conference theme, “Cultural Diplomacy and Message of Human Communication” to be held October 18-20, 2016 and hosted by the conference room of the permanent headquarters of the organization of the Islamic Educational, Science and Culture (ISESCO). I will be giving each poet a copy of the anthology, and a copy for the libraries of the sponsoring organizations.

My creative energy is focused on these two festivals. I did not realize so much more effort is required to travel and share the story of an advocacy through poetry. Ramon, Anna, Mercedes and Lorenzo will have to wait for their characters to evolve in Driving Dilemma Part 4 and the succeeding parts thereafter, as inspiration leads to the shaping of their characters. I will not force the evolution of their lives, I will make them flow like sweet water from a secret rainforest teeming with abundant rawness. For now my challenge is how to survive the bureaucratic jungle of a conference visa, and pass out of the gates of the Embassy of India, with a song in my heart.

A melody passing through

20 September 2016 10:06 a.m.

 

i found you in the leaves

in the intricate patterns of its veins

a story woven in a whistle

 

a melody passing through

between leaves embracing

in silence,

slow murmurs of an inner wind

a breath, flowing free

 

like breath, you are meant to flow

to hold you, without letting go

is death, but not to let you in

is death, too.

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