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Philippines Graphic Reader
Vic Pura
An author is confronted by the protagonist of her 32nd fiction.
She had written a story about the incident, more or less an undisguised one, populated by the same characters with little or no changes in name. I followed suit and just used one...
Birder
In celebration of the October 4 feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of the environment and all of God's creatures.
Eyes follow the sound
Ears scan the foliage
Breath on hold
Heart gripped still
Mind wiped clear like the sky in the lake
To await
The moment
The presence.
A...
Nesting
I used to bite my tongue a lot. I hated facing things head on. My emotions feel like they have all risen to the surface from years of being anchored down to the sea bed, barnacled and all. I’ve become a lot more...
Shadows of Togetherness
In every harbor, salt clings to skin,
and mothers’ songs drift into dawn,
soft as mango fuzz,
warm as a sun-stroked shoulder.
Markets breathe with spice and voices,
stretching like rope bridges
over rivers carved from memory.
We gather fragments—
grief tasting of smoke and ash,
joy dripping like sugarcane juice,
hope folded...
Kronos Eats All His Children in the End
What do you fear for yourself in the future?
Haya stared at the question written on the paper.
For some reason, her college has a dedicated class about preparing students for the life of being in college — especially this college. Haya thought it was...
The Gardener
Flowers grew in the cracks
of the gardener’s calloused hands
as she glanced at the garden she cultivates
She never wanted to disrupt their growth,
yet they need the cutting.
The plants got hurt,
yet they bowed at the gentleness of her pruning.
Her finger bleeds,
yet she will always be...
