YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR AFTERLIFE

Report by: Nikki Nina Barcinas

The Author

MARIO ERIC GAMALINDA

Profileo Name: Mario Eric Gamalindao Age: 54o Birthday: Oct. 14, 1956o Birthplace: Manilao School: UST and UP o Occupation: Poet, fictionist, essayisto Currently lives in: New York City, USA o Currently works at: Center for Investigative Journalism

local fellow for poetry of the UP ICW in 1983. local fellow for poetry of the UP ICW in 1983. went to Great Britain to represent the Philippines in went to Great Britain to represent the Philippines in

the Cambridge International Writers’ Conference in the Cambridge International Writers’ Conference in 1990.1990.

attended the Hawthornden International Writers’ attended the Hawthornden International Writers’ Retreat in Scotland, 1991. Retreat in Scotland, 1991.

got a Rockefeller Foundation residency in Bellagio, got a Rockefeller Foundation residency in Bellagio, Italy. Italy.

participated in the Japan International Cooperation participated in the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s Programme for the 21st century.Agency’s Programme for the 21st century.

Other Works & Achievements

Fire Poem/Rain Poem (1976)

Lyrics From A Dead Language (1991) Zero Gravity (1999) –Asian American Literary

Award Peripheral Vision (1992) Planet Waves (1989) –National Book Award Confessions of a Volcano (1990) The Empire of Memory (1992)

My Sad Republic (1998) –Centennial Literary Prize

Anatomy of a Passionate Derangement (One-act play, 1980) -1st prize, Gawad Palanca Award

Ara Vos Prec (1985) –Gawad Palanca Award

Patria Y Muerte (1988) –Gawad Palanca Award Mourning and Weeping in this Valley of Tears (1988) –Gawad

Palanca Award The Unbreakable Lightness of EDSA (1990) –Gawad Palanca

Award Muerte del Anghel (1992) –Free Press Literary Awards

"You Can Choose Your Afterlife," is found in Gamalinda’s book, Zero Gravity.

The Poem

according to the strange customsof the T'boliwho believe we are not judged

by good or evilbut by the kind of deathwe meet:

T’boli - an old indigenous people living in South Cotabato in Southern Mindanao

The author cited T’boli beliefs about death. The T’boli afterlife has several destinations.

to die by the swordis to enter the kingdom

where everythingeven the sound of water

is red They welcome you therewith the tintinnabulationof copper bells

and the lamentationof bamboo violinsand all night long

a wounded sun hoversover your place of business

The souls of murder victims and warriors slain in battle will be celebrated in a bloodthirsty kingdom.

To die by the sword also entails the people you left behind to mourn for your tragic death

And those who drown

return to the navel of the sea(that's what they call it)where they become subjects

of Fon Muhin, godof all creatureswho breathe water

According to the T’boli beliefs, victims of drowning become citizens of the sea.

They will be under the rule of Fon Muhin, a god they believe in.

And those

who die of sicknessgo to Mogulwhere they receive everything

they've always desiredbut are not free of suffering

If you die due to sickness, you will get what you wish for, which is to be free from pain, however, they will sorely miss the people they have left behind.

And those who kill themselves

go to a place exactly like earthbut where everything swayseven in sleep

For people who commit For people who commit suicide, their souls will suicide, their souls will never truly leave earth never truly leave earth because they still have because they still have unresolved problems.unresolved problems.

They will always They will always wonder what the wonder what the people they left behind people they left behind think of them for think of them for committing suicide.committing suicide.

Arne you didn't tell uswhy you wantedto go

we can only imagine youin a world whereyou can't keep a cup

of coffee stilland people keep changingthe rules for soccer

because the ballkeeps rolling awayYou won't miss us

everything moves in the samedirection You were alwaysone step ahead

The speaker addresses a friend, real or created, who decided to take his own life. He doesn't know why Arne took his own life, but he's not going to spend the rest of his life trying to figure it out. These people will always These people will always wonder what the people wonder what the people they left behind think of they left behind think of them for committing them for committing suicide.suicide.Death is inevitable.Death is inevitable.

Figures of Speech Onomatopoeia

They welcome you there with the tintinnabulation of copper bells

ApostropheApostrophe Arne, You didn’t tell us why you wanted to goArne, You didn’t tell us why you wanted to go

Personification: and the lamentation of bamboo violins and

all night long a wounded sun hovers over your place of business

If we can choose our afterlife, what can’t we choose?

References http://

nothingmorethanapoet.blogspot.com/2007/12/you-can-choose-your-afterlife.html

http://litera1no4.tripod.com/tboli_frame.html

http://panitikan.com.ph/authors/g/egamalinda.htm