GUERILLA DOWNPOUR

There is no warning—

the sky, a sudden insurgent,

opens with

guerrilla downpour.

Torrential rain,

an unrelenting witness,

assaults the fragile spines of trees

and the quiet bones of houses.

Water spills, not as mercy,

but as a force that shatters

the brittle calm we cling to.

In the heart’s small orchard,

the fruit sags

beneath shadowed weight,

and the wind recites no lullaby,

only the relentless drum of rain.

We stand,

soaked to the marrow,

waiting for the silence to return,

knowing that this

downpour,

this insurgency—

will carve the landscape anew,

whether we wish it or not.

Glenn Ford B. Tolentino

Glenn Ford B. Tolentino is pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing, leading to a Ph.D. in Literature at De La Salle University-Manila. He completed a Poetry Writing certificate course on "The Art of Poetry" offered by Boston University’s MOOC in partnership with the U.S. Embassy in Manila (2016). He participated in several national writers’ workshops, including ABS-CBN TV Academy, the Ricky Lee Scriptwriting Workshop, the University of the Philippines, and the University of Santo Tomas, Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies. His poetry and fiction have appeared in the TLDTD biannual journal for Filipino poets and poetry, Liwayway magazine, Ani Journal, and Katha book anthologies, among others. He currently serves as a Science Research Specialist II and technical desk editor and writer at the NRCP Research Journal, DOST-National Research Council of the Philippines. He is also a founding member of the Tres-Siete Poetry Society, and is a writer-filmmaker with the Neo Angono Artists Collective, based in Angono, Rizal, Philippines.

GUERILLA DOWNPOUR

Glenn Ford B. Tolentino

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