There are books that shout. And there are books that harbor.
I was cleaning my shelves when I came across Raffi Banzuela’s and Ju Belgica’s “Duru’ngan: Mga Rawit-dawit.” I remember the book gifted to me by a mentor, Prof. Alex de Guzman, a “tsundoku” who procures and hoards books and lets them pile up unread. Or so I thought. But he’s not a book dragon as he has been donating books also in various libraries in Bicol.
“Duru’ngan” is an archaic Bicolano term in Marcos de Lisboa’s Vocabulario de la lengua Bicol that is tied to doong (arriving/taking port) and is explicitly defined “Dorognan” as “el desembarcadero, ó puerto”—landing place/port. Over time, the spelling shifted, however, from “dorognan” to “durungan”, but the sense stays: a place where boats—and by extension, words—come home.
And true to its meaning, Banzuela’s and Belgica’s book is one of those quiet-but-sturdy collections—a daungan of poems, not a fireworks show. It is said to be Belgica’s first book, co-compiled with Banzuela, who he calls a close collaborator (kuru-kaiba, bugkos-boot), with the clear intention of writing so “dai mabari an dilang Bikolnon”—so the Bikol language won’t break.
That line alone tells you the book isn’t just “poetry for poetry’s sake.” It’s poetry as cultural defense—soft weapon, sharp purpose. It is, indeed, a port of ideas and imagery stated in verses about many things though not that “jologs” or “pa-cool”. It is a collection that values:
- voice that sounds like home, not like it’s asking permission
- Bikol as the main dish, not a garnish
- poems as docking points—for memory, place, love, loss, and local truth
Non-Bicolano speakers, however, might find the book challenging. Even I had to search for some of the words that are slowly fading in oblivion.
Duru’ngan is exactly what its title promises: a port. Not the loudest ship in the sea—but the place where ships stop pretending they’re not tired.
If you’re building a Bikol shelf—writer ka, student ka, or simply someone who wants words that sound like your own weather—this belongs there.
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