Kiew and the Poetree Festival

By Virginia Pasalo

 

THE call for participation in an anthology of tree poems began 22 September 2015 under the working title, “Trees: Embracing a Starlight”. To reach at a least a hundred poems, the project team launched the Poetree Train on 06 March 2016. The Poetree Train is a chain of poems about trees and the environment and its human connection. The project has collected 148 poems, with 10 translations to English, written by 47 poets from 17 countries. The working title evolved into Kiew na Bilay (Tree of Life), and finally called Kiew (Tree).

While poetry chains have been done before, the process is unique in the Poetree Train as each succeeding poem begins with the last word of the previous poem. In this project, the International Visitor Leadership Program-Philippines (IVLP-Phils.). and the WID Foundation engaged the online Facebook groups of the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission (PHCC) and the World Festival of Poetry (WFP) network to encourage submissions for the tree anthology.

Out of the 148 poems, 5 poems were composed in Pangasinan by the following authors: Rosa Maria Magno (Naandi’n Grasya), Melchor Espeleta Orpilla (Patey Ko: Anggan Mo), Virginia Jasmin Pasalo (Sayaw ed Tapew na Bangko and Sayaw ed Tapew na Pagew) and Gibson Perez (Arum ya Inam). Except for Rosa Maria Magno, all the Pangasinan authors translated their own poems into English. There was one Tinggian poem, written and translated into English by Julia Dugayen-Senga. Writers from Pangasinan who wrote in English: Arabela Ventenilla Arcinue, and Leonarda Carrera (Amor Cico), Farah Marie G. Decano Caroline Nazareno-Gabis (Ceri Naz), Michael Tomelden and Santiago Villafania. Danny Dingle and Marcelo Estrada, US-based poets were from Pangasinan.

This environmental initiative is a core element of the Asia-Pacific EcoPoetree Festival (a.k.a. Poetree Festival), a joint program of the IVLP-Phils. and the Women in Development Foundation (WID) to implement their joint environmental targets in project areas where both organizations maintain a strong presence. Three other organizational partners joined in 2016: 1) Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission (PHCC); 2) World Festival of Poetry (WFP); and Writers International Network- Canada (WIN- Canada).

The Poetree Festival was created on 13 January 2015 to promote culture, art and environmental activism as a 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. It is focused on environmental projects, specifically in educating and mobilizing communities to work harmoniously with nature and in developing environment-friendly economic programs for sustainable living. It has implemented a series of projects:

“Tie a Ribbon Around a Tree” Project. This project was held 27 September 2015 to save century-old trees along the Manila North Road (MNR) spanning five municipalities: Villasis, Urdaneta, Binalonan, Pozorrubio and Sison. The trees were marked to be cut for the road-widening project of District 5 in the province of Pangasinan. (Sison was not included because all the trees were already destroyed). The activity was participated in by Fr. Robert Reyes, OFM and representatives from environmental organizations. After the ribbons were tied around the trees, the trees were honoured with prayers, chants and poetry.

“Run Tree, Run Free!” Project. Following the road launching activity , the walk-run project was held 14 November 2015 with Fr. Robert Reyes leading it and stopping at houses along the highway to convince residents to support the life of the remaining trees.

“Adopt a Tree” Project. Poetree Festival conducted the project where the remaining trees still stand. Walk-run participants and residents in the area signed a Tree Adoption Registry, The number of the tree, the specie, the condition and the location of the trees were recorded in the regitry. Adoptive parents are responsible for the well-being of the trees they have adopted and for updating the members of the coalition about the status of the trees under their care.

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