Kintsugi

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How beautiful it is 

to be conceived as earthenware—

         tilled from soil,

         pliant with water,

         kneaded by skilled hands,

         tempered by fire,

         birthed by kilns.

         Sacred. Inspired.

         Where in rain, we are porous

         and in any water, we saturate

         without having to expand.

         Uninclined to disintegrate.

Yet,

how fateful it is

we are neither immortal     nor brittle,

but on heedless hands

we turn vulnerable—breakable

into islands          veined

with golden rivers—

         fulgent under sunlight,

         flowing forever,

         brushed by pardoning hands

         and celestial eyes that hover

         over cracks      across islands

         binding our vessels

         altogether.

Arvin Narvaza
Arvin Narvaza

Arvin Narvaza writes from Cagayan de Oro. Currently, he is on study leave to pursue a doctorate degree, but he is, nevertheless, a faculty member of the Communication Arts, Languages, and Literature unit of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP). Arvin’s poems have appeared in Bisaya Magasin (Manila Bulletin), Dagmay Literary Journal, and Habi. He will also be read in a forthcoming issue of Hong Kong’s Voice and Verse Poetry Magazine.

 

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