Jolography

By: Paulo Manalo

I. INTRODUCTION
The title describes the poem, which mixes Filipino expressions with the English
language. It may bring humor as not everyone knows the word itself. We could assume
that the speaker of the poem is a street boy’s failure to speak English properly. Maybe
focusing on the intention of the author towards the poem will give us realization
afterwards. The entire poem can be a bit confusing for those who aren’t aware of the
Filipino language, especially since it is the language of the streets. Jolography possibly
implies the importance of language.
 II. AUTHOR
PAULO MANALO
Background of the Author:
Paulo Manalo is a Filipino
poet who works as an
Assistant Professor at the
College of Arts and Letters
at the University of the
Philippines, where he
teaches English Literature.
He served as the literary
editor of the Philippines
Free Press. He received his
BA and MA degrees in Creative Writing from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. In
2001, he became the only Filipino participant at the 15th New York State Summer Writers
Institute at Skidmore College. Jolography is his first book of poems, published by the
University of the Philippines in 2003.
III. ELEMENTS OF POETRY
As the author expresses his works through creative phrases and playful contexts,
each work becomes a masterpiece that not only entertains but also enlightens readers.
Here’s our analysis of the poem Jolography.
a. Content/Subject
The subject of the poem centered on how the lifestyle and culture of the people were
shown by using two languages in the poem. The persona narrates the activities being done
by mostly teenagers and the environment where they belong. Those who see themselves
as more superior than their fellows when, in fact, possibly, they are not. Going to places
and doing things most people are doing. The persona details the never-ending flow of
variations and uncertain shades of meaning created by everyday life. Amidst the puzzle
message due to failure in English, the persona still conveys the reality that most people do
in their daily life.
 Jologs, the word itself, wasn’t mentioned in the entire poem. Understanding the poem
will make the reader understand the word jologs. Persona’s narration explains the jolog
word itself. The author wants the readers to accept the meaning of being a jolog in the
poem and how we apply it in our lives as Filipinos. Jolography not only serves to describe
lived experience but also serves to change it.

b. Theme
Addressing Filipino realities with the use of third poetic linguistic realm
While the theme of the poem can be easily extracted and at the same time
established, we need to understand that the theme that the author wants to convey during
the particular time that the poem was created can and will be different from the very
moment that this analysis will be done.
The poem have two languages that addresses Filipino reality which shows how fluid
a language is, when most poems only use one medium to communicate with the readers
which happened the language play in mind. It focuses on the viewpoint of Filipino linguists
about the usefulness of a Filipino or Philippine English as a medium of communication, and
notably, of literary expression by releasing the smells of its subject onto the reader with a
crass and broken language. Considering that the poem was written 2003, and is amazing
to witness that it is already relevant back then the term “code switching” which is the
practice of alternating between two or more languages or varieties of language in
conversation. This becomes a manifestation of the flexibility and significance of language
as the author blends English poetry with Filipino expressions. It is nice to see the
creativeness in describing some of the Filipino practices. There is really no limitations when
an author want to express something. Even though the poem consists of mixed-languages,
readers can still understand and see the rollercoaster beauty of the Filipino realities.
Witnessing the life of Filipinos mostly have through the use of third poetic linguistic
realm seems new but if feels great. It gives a fresh definition and observation. The poem
not only serve to describe lived experience but also conveys the constant flow of detail and
subtle shades of meaning that constituted in our daily existence, opened up new possibilities
for how language might be used in social contexts.
c. Mood
While reading the poem, the playfulness of the language is evident in the use of words
and language games that really transmit the poem's underlying message to its readers.
Paolo Manalo didn't merely translate or transliterate words, he enunciated the constraints
and promise of moving between and against two languages in perfect tune. Poetry is also
about breaking language, with the goal of revealing what is hidden. And he performed
really well in this regard.
 Filipino humor becomes a way to imagine communities in the poems of contemporary
Filipino poets like Paolo Manalo, as the poems in these collections use linguistic play,
language breakage, and the creation of hybrid languages in Filipino and English to respond
to new Philippine social realities or recreate social hierarchies in the Philippines by
repositioning or questioning individual and communal states in which Filipinos find
meaning.
d. Imagery
“Spoiled sportedness as is being Fashion showed”
This appeals to our visual senses as he creates a picture of the girl’s character. It is like
having a liberality in life and do not care for the opinion of others, no matter what does it
takes, life must go on until the end.

“Beautiful as we speak- in Cubao

There is that same look: Your crossing Ibabaw”

Here there is the use of visual imageries. This pictures their moment in cubao while they
are beautifully speaking with each other and tells that the girl has the same look as he were
crossing in the bypass of Cubao.

“Your Nepa Cute, wednesdays”

This uses the visual imageries as it pictures woman’s looks.

“A Pasig Raver on a dance club”

This also uses visual imageries as it pictures the undeniable stench of the jolog dancer in a
dance club.

“In plastic bag; we want to feel the grooves

Of the records we want to hear some scratch
In a breakaway movement, we’re the shake
To the motive of pockets, to the max”
In the above lines, uses the sense of touch (tactile imagery) as well as the auditory imagery.
The writer appeals to our sense of touch because you can imagine the interaction between
 the two individuals and there is a sensational touch involve. And in the of the records we
want to hear some scratch, it pictures out the sound, the reader can hear the sound of
scratch.

“Wave that stands in the outdoor crowd”

Here there is the use of auditory imageries. The reader can hear the wave that stands in the
outdoor crowd.

“The smell of foot stuck between the teeth”

In the above line, the author uses olfactory and gustatory imageries. The reader can smell
the footh and also the imagery helps the writer to make the reader imagine the taste of the
foot that is stuck between the teeth.

e. Symbols
Paolo Manalo's words are used so many times in this poem to symbolize the lives
of the Filipinos. As we analyze the poem, the place that is particularly being described is
the NCR.
“Sportedness is being fashion showed”
It simply symbolizes how people dress in everyday life, where the typical casual
wear is loose pants, baggy clothes, or those oversize shirts, or you could simply describe a
hip-hop type outfit.

“Cubao” and “Crossing Ibabaw”

It was simply portrayed as the route where most of the transportation takes place,
which is the Cubao, where he stated, "Crossing Ibabaw." This refers to those overpasses.

“Wednesday”
Symbolized in the poem as the day when all the different pretty good stuff is all
present in the Baclaran.
 “Who dream of the importedness of sex”
“As long as it’s”
“Pirated and under a hundred, who can smell”
It basically symbolizes the issue of how many vendors attempted to sell various
types of pirated CDs to the general public back then, which dates back to the 1990s.

“A Pasig River on a dance club. O, the toilet”

“Won’t flush, but we are moved, doing the gerby”
The author used a metaphor to illustrate how terribly filthy the Pasig River is. When
people pass by the river, there is certainly a lot of garbage, especially because many
individuals are defecating and tossing things there.

“Jeep”

The Jeep represents an equal lifestyle in which each day provides a fresh start,
similar to the city's jeep route. The Jeep is a well-known mode of transportation that many
people use to get to work and school. Even after returning home, many individuals take
public transportation. It seemed as though taking a Jeep was part of every Filipino's daily
routine.

“One minute faster than four o'clock”

Simply said, it indicates that we live in a rush, that we have forgotten how to
appreciate life, and that we love simple things that might bring us happiness. It may also
represent how quickly time goes by whenever we are having fun.
f. Persona
From what I understand, the persona in the poem is a kanto boy who shares poem
with many misses in the context in his failure to speak proper English. Which he is pointing
out their everyday life as a kanto boy belonging to jolog person. Attempting to praise a
woman with her beauty and doing things that most people do like going to a dance club. A
person who enjoy life as they want and as they think is good.

Point of View: First Person Narrative

The author uses first - person narrative as a mode of telling the story of the poem in which
the story teller recounts events from their own point of view using "us" / "we".
g. Speaker
The speaker of this poem is a kanto boy who go to places and doing things most
people do. Observing the never ending flow of their everyday lifestyle. He conveys the
reality that most people do in their everyday life. From going to different places admiring
woman and praising them with their beauty, going to dance clubs with the so called jologs.
Also the speaker telling us how jologs person live and manage life with their fashion style.
How they called jolog and pertain to us lower class individuals. Speaker speaks about the
happenings in their place, the way they live, look and do things as who they are as they
wanted to be that cool and look good like others but not enough for them to be because
of their different style.

h. Shape and Form

It can be understood as the physical structure of the poem: elements like its line
lengths and meters, stanza lengths, rhyme schemes (if any) and systems of repetition. In
this sense, it is normally reserved for the type of poem where these features have been
shaped into a pattern, especially a familiar pattern.

Analysis
Jolography is a free verse poem written by Paulo Manalo. Every stanza in this poem
consists of two lines, and each line's syllable length varies. As we can see, it lacks both rules
and a rhyme at the end of each stanza. Additionally, it lacks a regular rhythmic meter,
although every stanza or line has a beat and stressed. Jolography is a poet that enjoys just
telling stories or writing poetry in a narrative style.

i. Figurative Language
While the poem was written in a narrative form, readers may describe it as
incomprehensible because the English does not make sense but there are a lot of evident
figurative languages used that one can appreciate the author’s skilled play on words and
incredible intrusion of street language into poetic construction. Here are some of those
figurative languages that proved the poet to be so good.
O, how dead you child are,
Whose spoiled sportedness as is being
Fashion showed (Assonance)
 Beautiful as we speak - in Cubao
There is that same look: Your crossing
Ibabaw,

Your Nepa Cute, Wednesdays

Baclaran, “Please pass. Kindly ride on.”

Tonight will be us tomorrowed -

Lovers of the Happy Meal (Metonymy) (Allusion) and its H,

Who dream of the importedness of sex

As Long as it’s

Pirated and under a hundred, who can smell

A Pasig River (Metonymy) on a dance club. O, the toilet

Won’t flush, but we are moved, doing the gerby

In plastic bag; we want to feel the grooves (Euphemism)

Of the records, we want to hear some scratch -

In a breakaway movement, we’re the shake

To the motive of pockets, to the max.

The change is all in the first jeep

Of the morning’s route. Rerouting
 This city and its heart attacks (Personification); one minute faster
Than four o’clock, and the next

Wave that stands out in the outdoor crowd

Hanging with a bunch of yo-yos

A face with an inverted cap on, wearing all

Smiles the smell of foot stuck between the teeth (Hyperbole)

METONYMY- the name of an object or concept is replaced with a word closely related
to or suggested by the original or an author for his works.
The phrases from the poem: A Pasig River on a dance club, Lovers of the Happy Meal

 The phrase Pasig River comes when the speaker describes his escapade at the
dance club, the original word was raver, used to describe people in the 90s who
liked to dance to rave music, and used it together with the mispronunciation of the
Pasig River.

 The phrase Happy Meal was used by the author to describe Filipino as a fast food
lover which is referring to McDonald’s “Happy Meal”. So instead of using
McDonald’s, the author replaced it with the word Happy Meal.

ASSONANCE - is a figure of speech that is characterized by the use of words having

similar vowel sounds consecutively.
The phrase from the poem: O, how dead you child are, whose spoiled sportedness as is
being fashion showed

 This qualifies as an assonance because the phrase O, how dead you child are,
Whose spoiled sportedness as is being fashion showed used words that has a
similar vowel “o” sounds consecutively
 PERSONIFICATION- non-living objects are described to seem like people. Representing
a non-human thing as if it were human
The phrase from the poem: This city and its heart attacks

 The phrase This city and its heart attacks qualifies as a personification because the
City was described to seem like people having a heart attacks, which is not literally
pertaining to heart attack but means that the people in the city were really quick
to do something or hasten that it is one minute faster.

ALLUSION - is a figure of speech that references a person, place, thing, or event.

The phrase from the poem: Lovers of the Happy Meal

 The phrase Happy Meal was used by the author to reference McDonald’s “Happy
Meal”. So instead of using McDonald’s, the author replaced it with the word Happy
Meal.

HYPERBOLE - use language to exaggerate what you mean or emphasize a point

The phrase from the poem: the smell of foot stuck between the teeth

 The phrase the smell of foot stuck between the teeth was used to exaggerate the
image of the ‘jolog’ or the representation of the lower classes that can define as
having a bad breath.

EUPHEMISM - is a figure of speech commonly used to replace a word or phrase that is

related to a concept that might make others uncomfortable.
The phrase from the poem: In plastic bag; we want to feel the grooves

 In the phrase, grooves was used as a mild or indirect word substituted for one
considered to be too blunt. The word replaced by grooves was rehabilitated or
feeling high.

j. Literal level notes

While there are mixes of figurative language that can be found in the poem,
thereare also a lot of literal level notes present, this include the following:
 A. Basic Situation
A kanto boy normally living life as he is, observing the realities in the community he
belong. Living life as they wanted but called jologs. Experiencing the never ending flow
of their life.
B. Persona
Speaker in the poem is a kanto boy with jolog lifestyle.
Additionally:
“Beautiful as we speak - in Cubao.
There is that same look: You’re crossing ibabaw.”
This passage above implies that the kanto boy points a woman crossing, zeroing in
on the crossing breast of a woman.

Your Nepa Cute, Wednesdays Baclaran,

"Please pass-kindly ride on"

Tonight will be us tomorrow Lovers of the Happy Meal and its H

This passage tells the attempt to praise a woman for her beauty of being "Nepa
Cute* and it’s like aiming for a woman attention.
C. Setting
The setting is in a city with so called jologs. The specific place is at Cubao. In the
second phrase it mentioned the overpass in Cubao where a woman crossing and
Baclaran. It is where the story happen and shows their lifestyle.

k. Behind the Literal Level Notes

Jolography describes several situations that illustrate Filipino realities. It describes

these activities, carried out primarily by teenagers, as well as the setting in which they
are at home. Those who, despite the fact that they are not, think they are better than
their peers. Entering locations and engaging in activities that are popular.
Jologs
The poem describes what a Jolog is, who a Jolog is in the environment, and what
traits they have. Additionally, the author depicts the behavior of them in day-to-day
life. A member of a lower social class who makes an effort to seem cool but fails,
becoming a "jolog" in the process. someone who is cheesy and "baduy," but the
implication is more derogatory. The people who are confident in themselves because
they believe they are beautiful but we can tell that they are "baduy" are depicted in
the first and second stanzas of the poem, "0 how dead you child are, Whose spoiled
sportedness as is being Fashion showed," and "Beautiful as we speak - in Cubao/There
is that same look: Your crossing Ibabaw" respectively.

Additionally the poem's final stanza describes a jologs: "A face with an inverted
cap on, wearing all/Smiles the smell of foot stuck between the teeth." people with
yellow teeth and terrible breath who wear their caps backwards. The term "jologs" has
been replaced in modern times by the phrase "jejemon." Teenagers are the typically
jologs, or young children who are transitioning into adolescence.

Inappropriate Things or Bad Habits

Many of us engage in behavior that will make us happy, relieve stress, and
provide money on us, but doing any of those things is inappropriate for a human being.
First in the fourth stanza
"Who dream of the importedness of sex/As Long as it's Pirated and under a hundred,
who can smell,"
The poem's author tells us they are addicted to pornographic materials and view
this in a pirated fashion and buy in cheap. We can infer from this stanza that a person's
addiction to pornography is a terrible habit. It is terrible for human thinking because it
might make them turn into nymphos.

Next,
"In plastic bag: we want to feel the grooves/Of the records, we want to hear some
scratch,"
the author describe clutching a plastic bag filled with rugbies while simultaneously
wanting to feel high and rehabilitated, which led them to act irresponsibly. Sad to say,
a lot of people have drug and substance addictions that cause them to lose
 consciousness. They use this to escape from reality and deal with issues so they may
forget the stress-inducing situations.

Lastly,
"In a breakaway movement, we're the shake/To the motive of pockets, to the max/The
change is all in the first jeep/Of the moming's route. Rerouting/This city and its heart
attacks; one minute faster/Than four o'clock, and the next".
This poem's eighth, ninth, and tenth stanzas describe how pickpockets moved
around the city as quickly as the time. The author is attempting to convey that city
dwellers are extremely quick to act or accelerate, since it is one minute faster.
Therefore, we should avoid acting foolishly in the way when we are outside or in public.
We can socialize with a lot of people, but some of them are unreliable and will take
advantage of you, so we must caution.

l. Application of Literacy Theory

Structuralist Theory:
Since Paolo Manalo just want to show how transliterating Filipino expressions
would look like, there are a few lines that rhyme on other elements, such as "O, how
dead you child are, who spoiled. Sportedness is being fashion showed, " which
demonstrates a rhyme in spoiled and showed as a result of the ed. Also, "Beautifuling
as we speak — in Cubao. There ' s that same look: Your Crossing Ibabaw, " which is a
rhyme at the end of the phrase Cubao and Ibabaw. While the speaking persona
addresses " you, " the first couplet, "O, how dead you child are, whose spoiled, " refers
to them. The poet' s poem structure is literally a couplet, which means that each stanza
is a two-line stanza. The prevailing script in this poem is how lower class Filipinos, the
jologs, are supposed to be seen by other Filipinos, here unspecified, but revealed by
the speaking persona ' s familiarity with the micro verse. The structure of the work is a
free verse poem in which he uses a lot of Jologs lingo to structure his poem and terms
that only Jologs people are familiar with.

Post Structuralist
Language is important, as the poetry in Jolography show. there is always a
response to something or someone, whether compared to word histories, where
meaning is continually shifting Renewable and therefore not finalizable Language,
which serves as the primary medium through which intersubjective encounters take
place, becomes equally as much a product of continuing lived experience as people are
(Gardiner 58). The poetry in Jolography, however, serve to both change and describe
living experience. In the same way that the word "jolography" in Jolography's definition
indicates the never-ending flow of nuanced and ambiguous shades of meaning that
make up daily life, so too are the potentialities of language's social world-functioning
possibilities continually disclosed. Jolography has demonstrated how its dialogic
language can conceal polemic discourses and languages, especially when humor or
play on words is used as a mode of critique. It has also demonstrated how the
doubleness of the spoken and written word, which sometimes acts as errors, can lead
to the creation of new words. It has also demonstrated how the dialogic word allows
language to both summarize and rewrite history; conversely, language is also
constantly reauthored; and how subordinate social group, people who speak the
distorted language, for example, are given the ability to dialogize authoritative
discourses by giving them new meanings, values, and significances. Jolography is able
to draw the reader's attention to language as something that is familiar and taken for
granted, towards a view of language as not only the mystery of the possible worlds of
words but as, as Gardiner says, that which actually constitutes "the connective tissue
of all conceivable human thoughts." This sociopolitical function of language may be
more important than just that.

Psychoanalytic Theory:
It conveys that the characteristic of the persona focuses on the humor content
of the literary work. Each poem gathering denote time in which words are fiercely
twisted from their implications, speakers from their talks, writings from their readings,
and histories from their settings. Conscious transformation of one language to another
as strategy for poetry. One poem that was created by accident used an unintentional
language change rather than one that was deliberate. The overheard crosses language
barriers, so a bilingual writer who does not speak English as a first language can mistake
a word or phrase in American English for one in the local Tagalog. Paolo Manalo did
not simply interpret or transliterate words, he articulated, in impeccable pitch, the
constraints and capability of exploring between and against two dialects.