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.
Desire fuels
A flightless myth,
Its scales have
Scattered on streets,
Remnants in enchantments,
Trinkets, lanterns, sign posts,
The foreign letters hanging
Atop vendors, beckoning,
Jeepneys coughing,
Children running barefoot
On gravel, soles tainted but
Traceless on roads
Made of plastic, rusted wires,
And flickering neon lights,
Crowded as cemeteries
If you count the bones
Beneath, a thousand
Memories, perhaps, but
Numbers aren’t my song,
You’re aware,
When you held my hand,
My purse, my time, my heart,
Spent it all one night,
As much as want, as much as
Need, everything for a taste
Inside bleeding reveries,
Holding oxygen when
Engines snarl, puffing bliss,
Honest, these hands never
held a cigarette,
But, truth foretold demise
At the exhale of embers
Combusting at the tips,
A familiar fading view,
Of horizon, kindling faces,
Burning cities, devouring
Shadows, crimson in
The height of rapacity,
But, now I’ll stop, confess
I’ve left a piece of soul
Under the welcome arch
Before the streets
Of Binondo,
Portal in pocket, found
And forgotten to unravel
In waking, I dream
Of Shanghai,
In the lingering
Scent of xiao long bao,
On your collar, your sleeves,
Your hair, your accent,
Hanging on skin, teeth, lips,
Humming incessant
tunes of oriental ensemble,
In between promises
to return, witness the dance
Of dragons, taking flight
In leaps of red.
- - - - -
Lóng - dragon
Xiǎo lóng bāo - soup-filled dumpling
Written by Jean Faith Navida
