Page 60 - The Flame

Faces

OME people say that writing is a skill lection, bagged the Struga International Po-
that needs to be developed. This etry Prize from the United Nations Educa-
Spremise may ring true for many, but tional, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
not for Angelo Suarez, whose prowess in (Unesco) and the Republic of Macedonia.
the field of literature may have been natu- Despite these literary achievements,
rally ingrained in him. Suarez believes that he is just one of the
A graduate of AB Literature in 2005, Su- typical writers of his age who does not feel
arez is one of the widely-recognized young completely free in his writings. He added
poets in the country. His exceptional skill that Filipino writers are still bound by a set
and talent in writing made him win differ- of rules and standards in doing their craft.
ent literary recognitions from the Carlos “It is more of a sense of compliance—
Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, how obedient you are to a particular re-
the Maningning Miclat Foundation, and gime of thinking that made you win,” he
the National Book Award from the Manila added. “In short, I am just going with the
Critics Circle. flow, I know it is jaded but it is just how it
Despite all of the achievements he ob- is—being compliant.”
tained at a young age, Suarez recognizes
the fact that winning an award is not the The ‘conceptualist’
full realization of his passion, but just the Belonging to one of the country’s young
beginning of the long road he must tread contemporary poets, Suarez follows no
as a writer. style and is very unorthodox when it comes
With en- to his writings.
thusiasm for “I avoid style,”
writing and ex- “There are so many things he said.
cellence com- we can do. Why are we The concep-
bined togeth- tualist idea in
er, an open stuck in a particular way his compositions
book awaits of thinking? Do not be makes his writ-
him and all of ings unique. He
his escapades stuck doing something believes that
in the realm what he writes is
of Philippine worthless. Do what you only mechanical
literature. really want,” and what is more

Brilliant - Palanca winner Angelo Suarez important is the
process of gen-
beginnings erating the ideas
When he was young, Suarez shared contained by his compositions.
that he was a fan of comic books. He said “I read Vanessa Place, one of the good
that during his childhood, he aspired to conceptualist writers, and the famous Ken-
become a comic writer and editor, but as neth Goldsmith, the poster boy of concep-
years passed, this childhood dream did not tualist writing,” he said.
materialize. Currently, Suarez works as an adver-
His love for books made him realize his tiser. He is in the process of working on
passion for writing and prompted him to two books namely, Joint and Circuit. He
pursue this dream. describes Joint as a one-liner poem spread
“When I read Howl and Great Philip- across multiple pages, totally comprising a Angelo Suarez
pine Jungle Energy Café by Alfred Yuson, I bunch of words linked together in approxi-
sensed that this is what I want to do—to mately 100 pages. Conceptual writing taken to a new level
write,” he said. On the other hand, Circuit is an anthol-
On his first year at the University, he ogy of blurbs that Suarez considers closest
won the Rector’s Literary Award from The to his heart. It is an anthology of antholo-
Varsitarian’s Gawad Ustetika, the Univer- gies wherein around 80 people whom he
sity’s annual student awards for literature. invited to contribute heeded his request. “Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression.
His talent flourished further and on his sec- According to Suarez, if there is one thing
ond year, he was named Thomasian Poet of good about conceptualist work, it is the The chasm is never completely bridged. We all have the conviction, perhaps illusory, that we have much
the Year. fact that you do not have to exert great ef- more to say than what appears on the paper,” - Isaac Bashevis Singer
Backed by his natural skill in writing and fort to produce something.
the recognitions he obtained from different “The content is always instantly gener-
award-giving institutions, he became editor ated. Just have one concept, and you can ers.
in chief of the Flame in his senior year. put anything inside that,” he added.
Some of his books that were success- He is also working on another project, Playing the game
fully published were The Nymph of MTV the Adventures in Parataxis, a self-pub- On a side note, Suarez said that stu-
(2003), Else It Was Purely Girls (2005), lished book that will hopefully be out by dents should take every opportunity and
and Dissonant Umbrellas: Notes Toward a the end of the year. The book is a unique strive hard to get good grades in order to
Gesamtkunstwerk (2007). compilation of write-ups and transcriptions obtain a good scholastic record.
The first, which was his first poetry col- of the conversations he had with taxi driv- In his case, he treats his awards as his
60 | FLAME