This is one of the most spiritual poems written by a Filipino poet. This could be used for poetry analysis and for philosophical purposes.

1. CLOSE READING OF
FILIPINO POETRY
By MA. JULIEANNE C. GAJES

2. ORGANIC UNITY
 Established by the New Criticism school of thought
 It says that all the interdependent parts of a literary selection
must add up to create one whole
 In literature, all the parts and aspects of a literary selection must
contribute to one whole so crucially that if one part or aspect
went missing, the literary selection cannot be complete or may
not have the same meaning anymore
 To understand the organic unity of a poem, you must use the
process of close reading

3. CLOSE READING
 It is a way for you to analyze the poem by carefully reading and rereading a
text until you have found its interpretation
 When you close read Filipino poetry, what must you look for?You may try
to find the context of the poem-when it was written, the setting in which it
was written, the reason why it was written-for you to have a better
understanding of its idea.
 You may also look at its interdependent elements, as was discussed
previously, so that you may find visual clues to its meaning through its
rhyming scheme, overall structure, word order, and the like.
 You may also try to identify who the persona is and who the persona is
dedicating the poem to.

4. MARJORIE EVASCO
Marjorie Evasco was born in Bohol on September
21, 1953. She writes bilingually in English and
Cebuano-Visayan, and is considered one of the
country’s earliest feminist poets. She received
numerous awards for her poetry, and 2010, she
received the prestigious South East AsianWrite
Asward (SEAWrite). She is currently a professor
emeritus of De La Salle University – Manila.

6. IS ITTHE KINGFISHER?
This is how I desire god on this island
With you today: basic and blue
As the sea that softens our feet with salt
And brings the living wave to our mouths
Playing with sounds of a primary language
“God is blue”, sang the poet Juan Ramon Jimenez,
Drunk with desiring, his hair, eyebrows,
Eyelashes turned blue as the kingfisher’s wings
It is this bird that greets us as we come
Round the eastern bend of this island;
Tells us the hairbreadth boundary between us
Is transient as the air, permeable to the blue
Of tropic skies and mountain gentian
Where we sit on this rock covered with seaweeds,
I suddenly feel the blueness embrace us,
This rock, this island, this changed air,
The distance between us and the Self
We have longed to be. A bolt of burning blue
Lights in my brain, gives the answer

7. We’ve pursued this whole day:
Seawaves sing it, the kingfisher flies in it,
This island is rooted in it, Desiring
God is transparent blue – the color
Which makes our souls visible
 GUIDE QUESTIONS:
1. What are the allegorical
representations in the poem?
2. How do we usually communicate
with God?
3. What are some things that you see
in your daily life that you associate
with your faith and your
relationship with God?