Before the second episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary Workshop (PGLW) concluded on March 21, we knew that we had one more thing that we can offer our bright young fellows: a starting platform for their creative endeavors. Here, we present one of their final outputs from the workshop. We also asked them to provide an artwork that they think best represents their stories. Read on.
You used to wear the same yellow
polkadat shirt, unwashed for days.
We’d go for hours never switching
the channels. No one reaches
for the remote, ignoring every call
at this hour. Bags of chips on our laps
forming a colony on the ground.
Nothing bad ever happens,
He gets pounded by a large hammer.
Tossed into a meat grinder.
Crashing the car over and over
while in driving school. All while overworking,
smiling through unpaid labor.
In some cases, electrocuted
from pissing off a jellyfish.
You asked me to live a little like him,
hysterically laughing at the brink of death?
Or maybe lighten the mood
even in unfortunate situations.
I threw a grenade once in the middle
of a wake full of our old relatives:
“Sino po kaya sa inyo susunod?”
You try to hold it in while I’m being scolded
by the youngest lola. For years, I thought
the serious ones had a shorter life-expectancy.
Always took everything you asked of me
to heart. That it would make me immune
to certain causes of death. Not until
the priest and auntie accompanied
me to look at your face for the last time.
It’s just right they kept your mouth a bit open
with your bucktooth showing.
Written by Josh Baylon
