-Bonsai

by: Edith Tiempo

Game Time!
for you?
What is
L VE
Our views on what
love is may
differ... but
for Edith Tiempo...
Love is
like
bonsai...
Did you know?
Bonsai is the art of growing miniature trees or plants
in pots and containers.
The art of dwarfing plants really originated in China yet it
was Japan that developed, perfected, and shared this art to
the rest of the world.
It is a living art.
In Japan, it represents a bridge between humankind,
the soul, and the nature.
Edith L. Tiempo (1919 2011)
Edith L. Tiempo, poet, fictionist, teacher
and literary critic is one of the finest
Filipino writers in English.

Her works are characterized by a
remarkable fusion of style and substance,
of craftsmanship and insight.

She was born on April 22, 1919 in
Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.

Her poems are intricate verbal
transfigurations of significant
experiences as revealed, in two of her
much anthologized pieces, "The Little
Marmoset" and "Bonsai".

Widely acknowledged as the Mother of
Philippine Literature.
About the author:


She graduated from high school in
Bayombong, then took pre-law at the
University of the Philippines .

There, she met and married fictionist
Edilberto K. Tiempo.

The couple moved to Silliman University
in Dumaguete City, where she earned the
degree of bachelor of science in
education, major in English, magna cum
laude, in 1947.

She obtained her master of arts degree
from the State University of Iowa, USA, in
19

About the author:
Her language has been marked as
"descriptive but unburdened by
scrupulous detailing.

She was conferred the National Artist
Award for Literature in 1999.

Edith, together with her husband, founded
the Silliman National Writers Workshop in
1962. It is an annual literary workshop
held for three weeks every summer in
Dumagete City, and it is the longest
running literary workshop in the
Philippines.

Died on August 21, 2011 at the age of 92,
because of myocardial infarction.
Bonsai
All that I love
I fold over once
And once again
And keep in a box
Or a slit in a hollow post
Or in my shoe
She finds a sense of security in keeping
things that are dear to her and it already
became a habit because she mentioned several
places where she might have kept other things
before. She also present these things as a
reminder of important individuals and events
in her life.
All that I love?
Why, yes, but for the moment ---
And for all time, both.
Something that folds and keeps easy,
Sons note or Dads one gaudy tie,
A roto picture of a young queen,
A blue Indian shawl, even
A money bill.
She exudes tension and confusion as seen in the first two
lines, self-examines herself and realizes that love can be
both temporal and eternal, which comes to show that the love
of a female persona is not only an affective act, but a
cognitive one as well.

Simplifies everything she loves as something that could be
folded and kept easy (turning one large concept into
something small) so that ones memory will not be cluttered.

Makes love familiar and within reach by reducing it to
material things such as a note, a tie, a picture
Bonsai
Bonsai
Its utter sublimation
A feat, this hearts control
Moment to moment
To scale all love down
To a cupped hands size

Realizes that keeping material things is just self-
gratification and emphasizes on the importance of love
undergoing sublimation into a cupped hands size.

Uses the metaphor cupped hands size to convey the
image of asking and giving love to another, and to
avoid the destructive effects of love.

Accomplishes the procedure of scaling love down
(which is a feat) through utmost discipline and
restraint.

Bonsai
Till seashells are broken pieces
From Gods own bright teeth.
And life and love are real
Things you can run and
Breathless hand over
To the merest child.

Uses the first two lines to explain to us that all things in
this world including humans will come to an end where we will
be judged according to our deeds.

Tells us to share the material things to the needy (merest
child) as all material things are but temporary but life and
love are real, considering Gods redemptive power for those
whove done good.

Emphasizes on the importance of bequeathing the legacy of
love to the next generation, to them who are the ideal
recipients, since as the cliche goes, children are the future
of the world.

- Insights -
~References~
http://writerscollide.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/reduce-love-now-for-
safety-an-analysis-of-edith-tiempos-bonsai/
http://ralphseminogalan.blogspot.com/2008/05/edith-l-tiempos-
bonsai.html
http://nicethoughtsnthrills.blogspot.com/2009/08/whats-in-beatiful-
poem-bonsai.html
http://suite101.com/article/tiempos-bonsai-a30260
http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75911
http://www.slideshare.net/TheaLeyva/e-105-bonsai-synecdoche
http://restyo.blogspot.com/2011/08/bonsai-by-edith-l-tiempo.html
http://www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATPhilippineBonsaiShow2010.html
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-bonsai-tree.htm
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/45969/philippine-bonsai-artworks-are-
world-class-too