Of fairy tales and
future fakes,
We twist our limbs until
they break
We force the fit of
gown and gold
We try to do as we are told
But all our stories lost
their way
And all our stories end
today
We’ve had a sigh, a single pause
We’ll start again with
“once there was – “
Waya Gallardo is a writer and former nurse. She took up Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, and has written for theater and film. She won first place in the Fully Booked Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards for comics along with her sister Lala for “The Mad, Sad, but True Adventures of Hikagirl.” She is a survivor of both breast cancer and crushing homesickness, and is glad to be back after six years away in the United States.
