As we celebrate World Poetry Day on the last day of the second episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary Workshop (PGLW), it is only fitting that we present something from our recently concluded poetry workshop. Here is a renga that our fellows co-created with our lecturer, Nerisa Del Carmen Guevara.
All works here are outputs from the second episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary Workshop and are STRICTLY FOR ONLINE. This way, we document the poems that blossomed within the closed quarters of the lecture hall during the workshop’s two-day run. This is ENTIRELY OUTSIDE of the purview of the Philippines Graphic Reader, the Graphic’s official literary magazine.
the world stays where my lover stands
on the shore of longing
I once knew that loving maybe something staying, fearing,
grabbing at a ledge that keeps me from scattering.
Your tongue, honey, no longer speaks of “gigil,”
Eroding as I stand here; wilting softly at the edges–unable to hold its shape
Six, seven, six, seven, six, seven baby,
then we’ll join the weekly sacrifice of dead leaves, plastic burning
We’ll make a cathedral out of each other’s mortal and bare bodies
We’ll hide from the heavens, their watchful rays, no longer shall we be blinded
holding your bare self to mine, they will not impart shame to us
we will dance in green pastures caressing the green grass on our naked skin.
Makopa pile high at the talipapa. Your cherry lipstick stains my nice white shirt
Like a flurry of soft kisses drawn across a field pearly sampaguitas
I lift your lips from evanescence,
stained with cold, blue kiss of the grim
grave goodness of your soul, shifting my edges
perhaps soon the tides of time will erase them
I am in love with your purple coat,
How you dragged it over cobbled skulls in Golgotha
Can I court you through glances?
Shall I steal all that I can take,
surrender myself to that ocean
and perhaps drown in your sweetness
Remember this sight,
I am beckoning at you from the
Few little hills of Calvary where,
You can see crosses erect like
trees weathered by time.
moments frozen in stasis
the burn on my throat
to linger there is dangerous
Written by acclaimed poet and PGLW lecturer Nerisa Del Carmen Guevara and our March 2026 PGLW (Day 2) fellows:
| BARANA, Venezia Zachari C. |
| Baylon, Josh Lorenz S. |
| CARDENAS, Hailey C. |
| CLEMENTE, Chloe Vianney P. |
| CUEVAS, Victoria D. |
| CUYANA, Charles Florence V. |
| FRESNILLO, Francis Paul O. |
| LAGMAN, Josemari Luis C. |
| LASQUITE, Psalmuel L. |
| LAVASTIDA, Charlize Ann D. |
| LUCBAN, Francine Marie O. |
| NAVARRO, Alyssa Danielle R. |
| NAVIDA, Jean Faith Kelli S. |
| OCHOA, Giannah Erin D. |
| PATULOT, Christian F. |
| QUIBOL, Gabriel Lorenzo R. |
| REBANAL, Cristina Andrea H. |
| REYES, Jan Amber S. |
| SALVADOR, Sebastian Miguel A. |
| SAMSON, Nicole Dg. |
| SARINO, A.L. |
| SERAFICA, Sky Luna Eda C. |
| TAYLAN, Alessandra Beatrice M. |
| TORRES, Clarence Miguel P. |
| YOUNG, Kirsten T. |
| ZURETA, Gian Sigmund M. |
, it is only fitting that we present something from our recently concluded poetry workshop. Here is a renga that our fellows co-created with our lecturer, Nerisa Del Carmen Guevara.){kind=link}