Is It The Kingfisher?

by Marjorie M. Evasco
This is how I desire

First person point of view talks to the audience as though he/she is a companion in the poem.The
poem is somehow a religious type of poem because of the first line that says, “This
is how I desire god on this island”. It's all about appreciating the beautiful creations
of what has god had made for us. And being able to see beyond all these because
of her strong faith in god.

It’s as if Marjorie Evasco is walking along the beach somewhere with her love as she
was describing how it is like desiring god along the island beach. She assumed that
every blue color signifies or illustrates god maybe because the color blue also
symbolyzes peace, truth, youth, spirituality which are the qualities that she posseses
in the setting.

It seems for me that the subject/character in the poem is hoping to find peace within
himself. He was hoping to find heaven on earth.

Figures of Speech
Paradise

God

Eyelashes turned blue as the kingfisher's wings.

God is blue.

Simile~
Blueness embrace us.

Is it this bird that greets us.

~
- was born on September 21, 1953 in Maribojoc, Bohol.

- writes in two languages: English and Cebuano- Visayan

- a Filipina Feminist poet.

- was from a family of teachers that most of the time speaks in English.

Awards:

- Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards

- National Book Awards from the Manila Critic's Circle, Arinday (Siliman University),
Gintong Aklat (Book Development Association of the Philippines) and Philippine
Free Press

Theme
-Serene

-Solemn

-Blissful

-Dreamy

We continuously search for God. It seems like God is not with us, because we don't
see him, nor feel him physically. But everything we have now, everything we see,
feel.. are temporary. But God, even if we do not see, hear, smell, feel Him, He is
permanent and He is everywhere.

A Presentation by:

Mia Abengana

Mir Daria

Mheltina Espenida

Gellyn Inocencio

Gianina Limbo

Nicole Magbag

the first part describes the feeling of desiring something out of reach by comparing
the thing desired directly to something that is unattainable as "god"

"this is how I desire god on this island"

As the poem progresses it shows the persona's real desire... that is unattainable...
which is the thing that the persona wishes to be the most...
But before that the persona describes the thing he/she wants the most to be near
and within reach yet it's something that cannot be easily attained despite it being
near... so it turns out that it's not something that is entirely unattainable...

THEN the last part actually says what the persona actually wants most "The
distance between us and the Self

We have longed to be"

-self we have long to be-

Analysis
Subject
Prize winning poetry books:

- Dreamweavers: Selected Poems 1976-1986

- Ochre Tones: Poems in English and Cebuano (1999)

Tone
Analysis
The first thing I noticed was that the setting of the

poem seemed very dreamlike. It talked about the salty seas

tropic skies and mountain gentian; all of them in a supposed island

and with a kingfisher to boot. These are just general observations

though and I felt that instead of an island, a bird and whatnot, the

hidden image behind it was God. "God is blue" is probably what

I found to be most relative to the poem because blue can mean so many

things. It can be the beauty we see on the kingfisher's wings,

it could be the softness of the sea, and it could also be the necessity

that is oxygen. It can be one thing yet it can be everything. I think

that the poet felt that way about God because of her faith. To her, believing in God is
something eye-opening. It is a revelation of what we already know.

Voice
Metaphor~
Personification~
Marjorie Evasco
It is this bird that greets us as we come

Round the eastern bend of this island;

Tells us the hairbreadth boundary between us

Is transient in the air, permeable to the blue

Of tropic skies and mountain gentian.

Where we sit on this rock covered with seaweeds,

I suddenly feel the blueness embrace us,

This rock, this island, this changed air,

The distance between us and the Self

We have longed to be. A bolt of burning blue

Lights in my brain, gives the answer

We’ve pursued this whole day:

Analysis
The first few lines of the poem relate how Marjorie Evasco sees through the creation
of God; how she appreciates His creations. She describes this place as peaceful
and relaxingly comfortable figure. She pertained God as Blue, in psychology the
color blue symbolizes trust, peace and warmth that can bring our body to a calming
sensation. She must be using this color to emphasize how she feels towards the
beauty of the sight. There was a strong sense of blueness the way she said burning
blue. That peace and warmth was eating or containing her personal sense just being
in that place. And that feeling brought her inner peace, surely she was enlightened,
a few doubts were answered. Blue was everywhere and it gave her inner peace,
which can give visibility or awareness we could never find when troubled. With her
title, she must have thought that maybe the kingfisher was God, the way it is colored
blue and the way it gave her enlightenment. It is a personification.

This is how I desire god on this island

With you today: basic and blue

As the sea that softens our feet with salt

And brings the living wave to our mouths

Playing with sounds of a primary language.

“God is blue,” sang the poet Juan Ramon Jimenez,

drunk with desiring, his hair, eyebrows,

eyelashes turned blue as the kingfisher’s wings.

-Serendipity

-Peace

-Serenity

Analysis

Is It The Kingfisher?
 This is how I desire God on this island

With you today; basic and blue

As the sea that softens our feet with salt

And brings the living wave to our mouths

Playing with sounds of a primary language.

“God is blue”, sang the poet Juan Ramon Jimenez,

Drunk with desiring, his hair, eyebrows,

Eyelashes turned blue as the kingfisher’s wings.

It is the bird that greets us as we come

Round the eastern bend of this island;

Tell us the hairbreadth boundary between us

Is transient in the air, permeable to the blue

Of tropic skies and mountain gentian.

Where we sit on this rock covered with seaweeds,

I suddenly feel the blueness embrace us,

This rock, this island, this changed air,

The distance between us and the Self

We have longed to be. A bolt of burning blue

Lights in my brain, gives the answer

We’ve pursued this whole day;

Seawaves sing it, the kingfisher flies in it,

This island is rooted in it. Desiring

God is transparent blue – the color

Which makes our souls visible.