Kumusta, 2020? Alaala ng Isang Alay (The Philippine Writers Series 2022)

Kumusta?” is an expression with a whole gamut of nuances. When enunciated, the question can convey an infinite range of feelings and motives: from dispassionate greeting to unsettling provocation. And when used in a poetic discourse, “kumusta” can even have extended meaning beyond its primal denotation/connotation as a searching question or a simple concern.
Prof. Vim Nadera’s use of “Kumusta?” in this collection of literary pieces is a brilliant technique of descending into the depths of meaning of the word and its associations. Addressed to the personified “2020,” a year of disaster and desperation, “Kumusta?” solicits comprehensible answers to the inconceivable malaise experienced by many during that period. This idea of asking constitutes a manifold interplay of insights and recognitions that are wrought into open-ended texts of recollection, introspection, and lamentation.
Kumusta, 2020? subtly penetrates multiple strata of consciousness and diffuses existential queries—poetic utterances either echoing Job’s desperate plea for explanations for his undeserved tribulation or framing autistic play of words to crystallize the ironic and even the absurd. The possible interpretative tone of “kumusta” may vary, depending on the state of mind of a text’s persona and reader. And the commanding effect generated by such tenor with its corresponding beat, whether strenuously discordant or amicably mellow, translates readily into another dimension of “kumusta.”
The question, under the pressure of necessity, rises to the occasion and allows itself to bear witness to human struggles and to mirror life during a dark period.
Significantly, as the COVID plague continues to sow seeds of disaster and pain, “kumusta” will be persistently addressing, searching, and enduring the personified year . . . in focus. “Kumusta” has actually become an intimate companion, being easily invoked during enigmatic moments.
Kumusta, 2020? is, therefore, an occasion of listening to the fragile sense and nonsense of poetic verbal constructs begotten by the COVID 19 pandemic. Let this volume, a substantial source of cathartic pleasure, make the painful reminiscences of 2020 bearable or, hopefully, ephemeral.
Dr. Juliet Mallari
Head, National Committee on Literary Arts
National Commission for Culture and the Arts
Author: Vim Nadera
ISBN/ISSN: 978971542995-5
Category: Literary; Philippine Essays; COVID; Social Aspects
Copyright: 2022
Pages: 222pp
Size: 6x9
Type: PB/SP