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Philippines Graphic Reader

Coming Home

Buried in dishwater, Erika scrubbed hard on the cast-iron skillet that earlier contained beef caldereta. The grease showed no signs of letting go, and she wondered how impervious to dishwashing liquid the next dinnerware would be: the microwavable pans. But she didn’t mind....

Under the Withered Roof

The tears I dropped on my mother’s casket were wiped off with an off-white handkerchief by a hand filled with bulging veins and dominating wrinkles. I heard a comforting scolding, hinting to me that this man is too long in the tooth to...

Rise in Love

A ping sounded on my phone, and the words blinked on the screen at six in the morning.  “RISE IN LOVE.” I squinted at the screen, half-amused. The message could only be from Kim—always dramatic, always turning a simple morning greeting into something that promised...

The Man with Horns

Close to the end of my ties with Catharine, I was inconveniently reminded of the time when I learned that I grew up with a father from whom I wasn’t exactly begotten. This—this sudden act of remembrance—happened as she and I had just walked...

Lines from My Nepal Notebook

A whiff of jasmine Rose petals scattering Mighty pines dancing Bamboos swaying, dipping, snapping back Sunflowers gazing at their namesake in giddy worship. A windy spring day in Godavari. (April, 2011)

A Portrait of My Father

Last night was your birthday Forgot to tell my cousin to light a candle on your grave. DID I LOVE YOU ENOUGH DID MY WORDS HURT YOU YOUR SHADOW STALKED ME I PROMISED THERE WILL BE NO TEARS I remember your laughter as you sit in that corner of our apartment and Itim, our...

Random Pickings

While I Still Can

Let me, please I beg of you Let me catch the whiff of fresh air Against my cheeks The first ray of sunshine As new day breaks As it kisses...

Safety is a Hole in the Ground

Beth woke up with a start to the unearthly screams of a pig as it was being lashed to the long wooden bench in...

The Centurion

At six, Enzo Domingo bore witness to a miracle. That was the summer that Kuya Elison got sick. Enzo woke one night to find...

Encounter at the S.C. Field

Mornings do not rise Above this leafy prison. Time hangs midnoon Over sharp sugarcane leaves, Striking against the downpour Of cruel sunrays. All the sounds enclosing Are the rustle of the...