In celebration of National Literature Month in April, a discussion about poetry was held at the National Museum of the Philippines Dumaguete. Featured speaker was Angela Gabrielle Fabunan, a faculty member of the Department of English and Literature at Silliman University.
Held in partnership with the Edilberto and Edith Tiempo Creative Writing Center of Silliman University, the event, dubbed “Music and Metaphor at the Museum,” it showcased Fabunan’s insights on how institutions and influences shape the 21st-century Filipino poet.
Fabunan, author of the acclaimed poetry collection, Young Enough to Play (University of the Philippines Press, 2022), explored the boundaries and possibilities of formal poetry through her call-and-response theory. This framework proposes a dynamic conversation between tradition and innovation, examining how contemporary poets negotiate the constraints—or boundless potential—of poetic form.
The lecture was an offshoot from Fabunan’s paper, Call-and-Response: A Theory of Form as Boundary in Formal Poetry, a literary and scholarly research that was first presented at the 13th Literary Studies Conference and the 6th ASLE-ASEAN Ecocritical Conference in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in October 2023.
The talk answered the questions: Where do poetry and prose intersect with history and heritage? How does literature shape our identity? How do the stories we tell define our culture and future?
Through Muse and Metaphor at the Museum, writers and aspiring creatives banked upon museum collections as sources of literary inspiration. The activity underscored the museum’s role as an interactive space where heritage and the arts intersect, fostering a deeper appreciation for both tangible and intangible cultural expressions.
As one of the major stakeholders in Dumaguete City’s bid to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Literature in 2025, the National Museum of the Philippines Dumaguete remains dedicated to preserving and promoting the city’s literary heritage. With initiatives like Muse and Metaphor at the Museum, the museum supports programs that highlight the power of storytelling, poetry, and other written works in shaping cultural identity and inspiring future generations.
On the other hand, the Creative Writing Center of Silliman University, as the primary partner for this event, aims to reinforce its commitment to excellence in creative writing and literature by highlighting the research and scholarship of its members. Through this initiative, the Center seeks to further establish SU’s reputation as a premier research institution renowned for its contributions to literary arts and scholarship.
The event was live streamed on the SU Creative Writing Center’s Facebook page. | NWI
