I dedicate this book to my classmates in Creative Writing. And also to our teacher, Ma’am Julie Canonce. Without them, I’ll forever be intolerant of critiques.
1 Prose 2 Autobiography 3 Ideal Robot (a flash fiction) 4 Undesirable Fate (a flash fiction) 5 Knocking Thoughts (a flash fiction) 6 Niyayakap ng Kadiliman ang Pusong Luhaan (six-word story transcreated into flash fiction) 7 Ang Kalupi (“Ang Kalupi” by Benjamin Pascual transcreated into flash fiction) 8 Ang Kalupi 2 (a short story sequel to “Ang Kalupi” by Benjamin Pascual) 10 Instant Gratification (a short story) 13 Enlightenment (a short story) 15 Heavenly Bliss (a short story) 19 Poetry 20 Fondness (a haiku) 21 Devotion (a haiku) 22 Stillness (a tanka) 23 Serenity (a tanka) 24 Iyak ng Espiritu (a free verse poem) 26 Gumagalang Gulo (a free verse poem) 27 Ikaw Lamang (a free verse poem) 28 Attitude of Reverence (a shakespearean sonnet) 29 Treasure Nature (a shakespearean sonnet) 30 Lampas Isa (a shakespearean sonnet) 31 Letters to Fortune (found poetry) 32 Self-delusion (found poetry) 33 Tunnel Light (black-out poetry) 34 Call to Freedom (book spine poetry) 35 A New Kind of War (book spine poetry) 36 Fate (model poetry) 37 Anniversary (model poetry) 38 What Root? (word pick poetry) 39 Liberate (word pick poetry) 40 Speaking Motion (word pick poetry) 41 Unforeseen (word pick poetry) 42 MARK EMMANUEL (an acrostic poem) 43 KIKO (an acrostic poem) 44 PANGAMBA (an acrostic poem) 45 Drama 46 Can’t Find You (a monologue for “New Yorker in Tondo” by Marcelino Agana Jr.) 47 Sama-sama (a musical monologue for “Salamisim: Kislap ng Gunita” by SPA Creative Writing) 48 The Apple of My Eye (a one-one radio play) 50 Yakap ng Dilim (a one-act play) 53 Punto (a short film) 55 Kumusta? (a short film) 59 Kailan? (a short film) 62 About the Author
Prose, the type of writing present in our everyday life. This is a writing that doesn’t follow any metrical structure. This type of writing is usually found in subjects like Filipino and English (e.g., speeches, short stories, flash fiction, essays, etc.) See the next pages to discover a selection of prose examples. 1
Autobiography They say that the middle child is the most attractive of them all, and rightly so. I, Mark Emmanuel Lacuarin Betancor, is the living testimony of this. Need not worry, we can agree to disagree. I grew up in Quezon City almost all my life. My parents are Ronnie Betancor and Bevelyn Betancor. My older brother studies at Philippine Normal University, and he looks forward to finishing their English education program. While, my younger sister, Angela, is an ever-glowing SPED student at Bagong Pag-asa Elementary School. I’m a 16-year-old Creative Writing student at San Francisco High School. I practically live five minutes away from school, making me completely complacent about our class schedule. If I would describe myself using three adjectives, I would use: thoughtful, solitary, and pessimistic. Because of my past impulsive actions, everything had changed. I would often ask the advice of people that I know that are more mature than me and those who I wholeheartedly trust. Wisdom is something I so eagerly seek. Therefore, whenever given the chance, I would openly be vulnerable to people about embarrassing, intimidating, and little personal things. Regardless of this, I stillI delight in silence and the state of being alone. I enjoy reflecting on my own actions while walking, cycling, or simply listening to music. I value my rest as much as I do my socializing. My goal is to have an equilibrium of both. So, whenever I’m on my way home after a long day, I’d prefer listening to music than talking with someone. However, it is during these times that I experience the most pessimism. Being alone can only go so far in charging my social battery. It occasionally leads me to thinking about life. Yes, life, the most understandable concept in humanity. While I’m well aware of all the stuff I can do about this, I sometimes ignore them. This is primarily because I feel lost in what I truly want to do as a career. I am yet to fully understand who I am, and the crippling fear of being left behind eats me. One of the things I do is write literary pieces about it, but writing can be stressful at times. When it comes to writing, I admit to writing poor pieces, but I learned that being that way is a great foundation. The outcome of my pieces is just a collection of revised ideas and a matter of trying and trying again. I realized that being bad at something often leads to discontentment, pushing us to take risks and embrace uncertainty. It then becomes a process of contemplating whether to stick with the initial version or explore better ways to improve, which can be mentally exhausting. Creative writing is not something that should be hurried—but I’d love to write perfectly right off the bat someday—it takes time and patience… and a lot of revising. I never really dreamed of becoming a professional writer himself. I never even had writing experience before entering Creative Writing. I have come to love it, not because he always did, but because of the thoughts I can convey through the pieces I write, and to see people reading and resonating with them, for me, is a satisfaction beyond description. 2
Ideal Robot A flash fiction It's 11 PM, I’m aiming to sleep around this time so I can wake up early for tomorrow. A morning jog and a cold bath to clear my mind is what I'm looking forward to. I'm in my room, staring at the ceiling that is like a dark void. "Primus, visit Lea." I approached Lea’s house door and knocked. She opened it and she was thrilled to see me and so was I. It's 4 AM, I'm in my room, sobbing. It's because of Primus, it needs a charge. Here, I'm back to reality. 3
Undesirable Fate A flash fiction Alone again, profusely sweating. Tolerating the hot, yet shaking. This is out my comprehension. People are frustrated. Fear is above me, I can’t exercise my will. All is overdue. Should I continue? Must I enlighten them? 4
Knocking Thoughts A flash fiction Heavy rain was occurring at Mav‘s place. Mav was inside his dorm, studying. It was late at night and he was unable to sleep. Mav spent his whole week reading. He had no clue that there would be a lot of reading to do. He is currently in his 2nd year as a law student. He wants to read more, but he knows he no longer can. He was mentally exhausted and was finding time to rest. But there was a lot more to study and to read. After spending 4 more hours, Mav finished all his readings. Then out of thin air, a question entered his mind. “Who am I doing this for?” Mav‘s mother died 9 years ago. It was his mom‘s desire for him to be a successful lawyer one day. Mav guaranteed his mom that he will pursue law and become a successful lawyer. But as time passed, Mav didn‘t want to be a lawyer anymore. Yet he didn‘t follow his own heart. He followed his promise. And as he was going to close his eyes, a question appeared on his mind once again. “What do I really want?” 5
Niyayakap ng Kadiliman ang Pusong Luhaan A six-word story transcreated into flash fiction Naghahanap, “Saan na yun?!” Nakatayo, nanginginig ang binti’t hindi mapakali. “Hindi posible ‘to, nandito na dapat ‘yun!” bigkas sa sarili. Isang oras na siyang naghahanap, hindi na bilang kung ilang beses niya inulit-ulit simula itaas. Pagkatapos ng isa pang ulit, sumuko na siya’t umiyak, “Pagod na ‘ko, ilang beses ko na sinubukan pumasa rito!” 6
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