Verse in the Metro

Photo from the Berso sa Metro Facebook Page.

Have you taken Manila’s Light Rail Transit recently (LRT)? Well, we all should – if only to wax poetic during the ride.

The Instituto Cervantes de Manila, led by Director Jose Rodriguez, and the Light Rail Transit Authority have collaborated to install posters inside the carriages of the train, posters that contain celebrated Spanish-language poems by such writers as national hero Jose Rizal, Jesús Balmori, Claro M. Recto, José Palma, and Fernando Maria Guerrero; Spanish poets Calderón de la Barca, Lope de Vega, García Lorca, Antonio Machado, Luis Cernuda, Luis Rosales, Miguel Hernández and Gil de Biedma; and Latin American writers Pablo Neruda and César Vallejo.

The poems, of course, have Filipino translations. So we can stop ogling at strangers and start memorizing lines that ought to have been familiar to us long ago.

This new promotional campaign, entitled “Berso Sa Metro (Verse in the Metro)”, was launched recently to encourage reading among Filipino commuters, as well as to strengthen the ties between Spain and the Philippines, two countries that share a common past that spanned more than 300 years. It’s also a new – albeit simple – cultural attraction in the Philippines, a country that still has plenty of traces of colonial rule and Spanish heritage.

“With almost one million commuters riding the train every day, it provides a great opportunity for the reading campaign to reach as many people as possible,” Rodriguez said.

While the LRT has usually been cited for overflow of passengers, the poems should give people something new and positive to talk about. It’s certainly one of the most unique attractions in the Philippines.

Instituto Cervantes is the cultural arm of the Spanish government that promotes and teaches the Spanish language and culture. It is the largest Spanish teaching organization worldwide, with more than seventy centers in four continents. With its collection of classic and contemporary Spanish art, literature, movies, and music, the Instituto library has become an important agent in promoting the Spanish language in the Philippines and is an indispensable source for those who are interested in Spanish and Latin American cultures.