Literature Triumphant — LIRA members Vim Nadera, Virgilio Almario, and Philip Kimpo Jr. (above) celebrate the group's recent win at the TAYO Awards Photo By Pinggot Zulueta
MANILA, Philippines — Sometimes inscrutable and oftentimes vague, poems – and by extension, the poets who write them – are often regarded by the average person as works meant only within tight-knit literary circles.
However, the 26-year-old organization called Linangan ng Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo, or LIRA, has been proving that poets are far from being just residents of an ivory tower. As evidenced by their recent win at the 2011 Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) competition – the first literary organization to do so – poets and the poetry they write can certainly change the world.
The group of poets was recently lauded for their project called “The LIRA Literature and Language Education Program of 2010”. First established in 2008, the project is a volunteer program that aims to foster the growth of the country’s literature and culture, highlighting teaching of Filipino poetry. In the past year, the beneficiaries of the program among teachers and students around the country have numbered in the hundreds.
“We believe that the power of literature isn’t to turn people into poets. You just put a seed into them so they gobecome more aware of society and they become journalists, songwriters, rappers, novelists, basically to become effective communicators that can effect change in society,” explains Philip Kimpo Jr., current president of LIRA.
GOING OUT THERE
Since its establishment in 1985, LIRA has always had projects to develop the skills of aspiring poets through poetry clinics. It has produced some of the country’s most celebrated writers like Vim Nadera, Romulo Baquiran, and Roberto and Rebecca Añonuevo.
However, by 2008, the group began to rethink their methods of propagating the love for the varied poetic forms.
“We realized that there was something missing with the fact that we were writing in Manila, but we don’t get to share literature with other people. We may not aim to turn them all into poets, but we want to give them an appreciation of native culture. We thought that since we’re young and we have so much energy, why can’t we go out? We have the free time, let’s teach the provinces!” says Kimpo.
The group decided to expand the use of their 20-year-old poetry clinics, utilizing it to cultivate poet-volunteers who would then be tapped to teach poetry to students and teachers in the provinces.
“These poet-volunteers endure six months of spartan-like training because we want to see if these people can go to the provinces and sacrifice their weekends,” reveals Kimpo. “Aside from being excellent writers who can teach others how to write, these poet-volunteers must also be disciplined in carrying out their duties and and not teach only when they want to teach.”
POETRY FOR CHILD DEVELOPMENT
LIRA’s Literature and Language Education Program has proved to be beneficial for both parties. Kimpo says teachers and students in the provinces get to take part in workshops usually held in the capitol, while LIRA’s poet-volunteers get to experience life outside the four walls of the workshop.
“The practical benefit for the teachers, especially in the provinces, is that they save money. It’s going to cost them thousands of pesos to come to Manila for conferences and workshops, so we go to them and give training for free,” explains Kimpo. “As for our poet-volunteers, a lot of them have never been out of Manila or have never thought of volunteering. But when we take them out, they tell me that it feels good to not just write for oneself, but do something for another person and do something for the country.”
It was to trumpet these gains made on both sides of the fence that spurred LIRA to enter this year’s Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) search. Rather than winning, Kimpo says that the most that the group was looking to gain was to network with other youth organizations that they can work with.
“I was surprised we even made it to the NCR finals! The projects of the area and national finalists were so good, so we were surprised we made it as far as we did,” says Kimpo. “We just wanted to show this panel of influential people the relevance and purpose of culture and literature in Philippine society. We also wanted to network with the other finalists. Winning is just a bonus.”
LIRA has certainly gained a wider network, thanks to their involvement with TAYO this year. The group already has plans to work with fellow TAYO finalists AUL-ST AGE, Hapiyoh-Mi, The Mountain Collegian, and the Zamboanga Peace Advocates, and hopes to expand their project from just teaching poetry to using it in different aspects of development.
“We want to expand our project because we want our beneficiaries to be more than just teachers and students. We want poetry for child development, we want poetry for therapy,” says Kimpo. “The Zamboanga Peace Advocates are asking us to go to Zamboanga to use literature on children who’ve suffered under the war. For us, that’s the benefit of joining TAYO.”
Kimpo hopes that LIRA’s pioneering will win inspire other literary organizations to move out of the box.
“I want other youth organizations, especially literary ones, to realize that art has many other purposes. We don’t believe in art for art’s sake. Maybe they can try becoming more service-oriented. Maybe they can try giving free workshops for kids. There are a lot of things they can do,” ends Kimpo.
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