Written After Viewing DengCoy Miel’s Rizal in the Land of Lilimut

Grace The many tremors comeunannounced, but we knowthey are coming. The old earthgives way and soft papayasare on the ground. Lemongrassfills the air and everywhere there isa steely edge to the way peoplecall our names. The groundboth fact and faceless,save for the debris, the detritusof our decisions. The floods?We know they are coming.Do you remember the questionsyou were raised not to ask?Would you tell the hungryand the homeless the weightof your coin? Would you tellany man to his face how gratitudemust look like? To lose our balanceis to wind the clock back:If we had stopped and keptthe mountains proud,gentle...

“What the—?” Sky’s hand stalled inside the bag, fingers grazing the lining like it might bite.  The leather was a tired brown, the kind that had once been pretty in store lighting and then surrendered to real life—edges blunted, corners darkened by touch. It smelled faintly of powder and something citrusy. It had never softened under her grip, never learned the shape of her shoulder. And yet it had been under her bed. She pulled out the first thing her fingers snagged on. A head scarf—floral and folded into a neat square. Sky hated anything that clung to her forehead,...

Red, orange and brownYour lunch, your dinnerYou don’t have a choiceFor it’s your only fare now It’s now on sale in storesBuy now; it’s buy one, take oneRight now, it fits with riceAnd with salt plus soy sauce, too! Eat it with a paper plateWith fingers, spoons and forksYou’re free to eat it allMake sure to finish your plate, too! All those fancy packagingContain only the same thingYou eat it every dayTo live through each damn day This is your last bill nowYou check your holed pocketsAs you watch the night newsTo clap at an election speech The night sinks deep, you go...

Mamay, here you are soaking the soft riceAnd wrapping them in the leaves tender, darkenedDarkened by the tiniest flame that you whispered to.The bundles are dreams of shapes on top of each other.Listen, the water is graying and catching their breath.The heat assumes your wisdom and no one elseAmong the kin takes your ember away from the hearth. They wrinkle as they are undressed.The whole cloth should go as one but a gossipPassiona has cloaked your mind for eternity.Here they lie below your wise gaze.There are secrets that will soonRedden them: the sweetness of coconut meatAnd the milk summoned...