JANUARY seems to be a sad month, people passing, cold weather blowing and stars fading.
On January 9, Tita Agcaoili Lacambra Ayala, award winning Davao poet and literary giant, passed away at the age of 88.
Hers is a legacy of great poetry, which started with her book Sunflower Poems in 1960, and guidance to young writers in Mindanao, by publishing their works in her Road Map literary anthology series which she started in 1981. She also perhaps pioneered a do-it-yourself publishing of one’s works in Davao.
In literary circles, she is called Tala, short for her acronym. Fellow writer and Palanca awardee Agustin ‘Don’ Pagusara writes a tribute saying Tala, “her signature artist name rhymes perfectly with her singular fame. Her radiance is a rare circumstance in the literary horizon of our nation.”
Ayala was a founding member of the Davao Writers Guild. She has won two Palanca awards in short story and poetry.
Pagusara describes her literary work “invariably celebrates the poignant temper of Filipino sentiment and sensibility.”
Reading her poetry is like peeking to her personal encounters and reflection on womanhood, hometown, memories and life in general. It evokes thoughts of loss, but also of what one values. As Tala once gave an advice to writers, “It has to be the most intense then you come up with something good.”
Recently, the Davao Writers Guild honored Ayala with a tribute at the closing of her exhibit “Road Map Series: 37 Years and Still Walking at the Art Portal Gallery in June. She last appeared with fellow writers during the launching of the Guild’s Davao Harvest 3 anthology on November 18.
“Tita was in her usual engaging self. But something in her graciously radiates, something you’ll never miss,” says Pagusara. “Her awesome Baylan countenance – an aura of sublime self-esteem she has always carried in her mien with a style. Truly, she has lived her literary life as a worthy shaman, a priestess of Filipino poetry.”
Ayala is married to painter Jose Ayala, and has two children following the artists’ path, ethnic folk singer Joey Ayala and singer Cynthia Alexander.
Artists salute Tita Ayala, a star that guided many, and will live on in the words she wrote.
“But the main irony
is that we keep going back to reconfirm our loss,
what we have gone to find beyond mend and settlement.
Our pilgrimages leave us broken and hungry,
eager to return to whatever present, what we have left.”
- Pilgrimage to Antamok, Tita Lacambra Ayala