Memoir

Edna Manlapaz

Though we had met many times before and since the time mentioned here, my memory of Marj transported me to the spring of 1992. Then, we spent three weeks at Bellagio in Italy as Rockefeller Resident Fellows.

We had been awarded this generous grant at Bellagio to allow us to collaborate on a planned study of six women poets, which was subsequently published under that title in 1996.

When she learned that we were bound for Bellagio, the late poet Virginia Moreno (who spent time there a few years earlier) gave unsolicited but welcome advice. She claimed Bellagio was too beautiful to spend time there inside our room “just writing.”

Marj and I followed Virgie’s advice to the letter: we spent hours walking the path that encircled the promontory on which was built the elegant Villa Serbollini where we were housed; we ate gelato as we explored the meandering streets of the town below; we took ferry rides around scenic Lake Como (long before George Clooney bought a lakeside villa there); hitched a car drive to the bustling city of Milan where we climbed the steep steps up to the rooftop of the Duomo.

Not that we spent those three weeks as tourists. As resident fellows, we dutifully spent most mornings in our respective rooms, transcribing notes taken during the interviews we had earlier with the women poets. Later, Marj and I would exchange notes and draft essays. The rest of the day, especially over meals, we spent spirited conversations with the other Rockefeller fellows.

But our favorite way of spending the lazy afternoons was having tea with Joseph Heller (yes, he of Catch-22). He freely admitted that he found Bellagio too beautiful to spend much time at his own desk, preferring to look at the window and fix his gaze on the lake.

And apparently, also at Marj, for whom he had developed a crush. He confessed as much to me just before he got into the limousine that would bring him to the airport. Tell Marj, but only when I leave, he instructed. So there! I have just now handed you a fabulous feather to add to Marj’s already fully plumaged hat!

Kipkip mo ngayon
Ang sandali,
Ang lahat ng nakawiwili,
Hindi mabubura
Sumapit man ang gabi,
Sapagkat nanunuot
Hanggang kaluluwa
Ang inibig mong diwata,
Tapat sa mga pahina
Ng araw-araw na pagsinta.

13 Setyembre 2021