mindanaoartsph
12 STEM - A
literature
The Poverty of a Woman Who turned herself into Stone by
Lina Sangral Reyes
The poet initially brings attention to a remark of the character about turning into stone as a result of a certain struggle. The succeeding paragraphs describe him as having no hands; compare her to a folded hand and frozen fist with frozen anger; as having no eyes and compare her to a blinded eye though of her own choice; and having sensitive ears, but is overwhelmed by the voices around her. The last stanza brings attention to other characters like the clowns, orphans, and soldiers of war whose laughter has the characteristics of a stone. There seems to be a tension in the poem as reflected in the negative image of hardness brought about by a large and disturbing theme of the harsh realities of life, specifically, poverty.
about the author
Lina Sagaral Reyes is a journalist based in Mindanao, Philippines. Her main abiding interest has been in writing non-fiction on gender and development issues. Lina was in the Occupied Palestine Territories to attend the Young Women's Christian Association Conference in Jerusalem when she wrote this article. Lina Sagaral Reyes was born in 1961 and grew up in Villalimpia, Bohol, which according to the writer is "a village of blacksmiths, nipa thatchers, fishers, carpenters, a few teachers, sailors and other professionals and women who live on their own". She took courses in Journalism and Creative Writing at Silliman University between 1978 and 1983. In 1987, she was diagnosed with a disease that doctors claimed would take her life in two years. She wrote furiously in the time measured out for her. She outlived the previous diagnosis and returned to Villalimpia, reclaimed her parents' house, and transformed it into the office of the Center for Creative Women. She researched the life stories of creative women in villages for the Writers Involved in Creative Cultural Alternatives (WICCA). Among her awards is the Palanca 1st prize in 1987 for (Instead of a Will These) For All the Loved Ones, with Merlinda C. Bobis, and 3rd, 1990, for Istorya, with Ma. Luisa B. Aguilar-Cariño and Jose Neil Garcia. Her works include Honing Weapons, Lunhaw Book, 1987 and St. Orya, Babaylan Women's Publishing Collective, Institute of Women's Studies, St. Scholastica's College, 1991. As a journalist, she has also continued to write articles for periodicals such as the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Mindanao Gold Star Daily.
