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Philippines Graphic Reader

Cinnamon Rolls

A covenant was made. You trod on my soil. You breathed my air. Here, tonight, I am having dinner. The hall would have fit in Many exuberant guests, But I only see myself And my toddler’s chair. The table is set. Cutleries in their neat order. I sniff the folded serviette. It is your very...

The Maids’ Revolt

The gunfire echoed along the ship’s corridor. Kuya One, who was known only by his call sign, welcomed the sound this time, as it was an indication that some of his men were still alive. He sadly realized that their movement, at least...

Retrograde

The force of fate couldn’t fight for us.Venus showed me the way to youjust as I pointed her and the Moonfor you to gaze.He smiled down on us, mockingwith his crescent lips, whitened teeth. Time runs backas our shared memories.

Reflections on the Void

I’ll begin with a crude reduction of La Bruyere’s opening paragraph from Les Characteres: Nothing here is meant to be the first of its kind. This thing itself is a pale and conflated imitation of what I found most resonant in the aphorisms...

Stranger

You had been here You had come wading to shore Wearing a raiment of corals and sea grass And flotsam surrendered by the sea You had been in this valley Where you let grow Cathedral trees laden With words that fall and flow On the riverine channels of my mind You had...

The Backroom Angels Bugaloo

No one, least of all her schoolmates at St. Celestina’s Academy, would have pictured Chona Laon Badoy as the Mayor of San Semilla in Negros Occidental. Chona herself had never aspired for political office, but only to public service, as her in-laws loftily...

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The Nature of the Beast

THE MOTORIZED BOAT DELIVERED AN ear-splitting growl, then a moan, and we were aground — the steer man, his co-pilot, and I — in...

Simulacrum

Jesus fuck!” I blurted out. I pray my devout Catholic of a Mom and Dad didn’t hear that one but—Christ on a stick—this stupid...

Gifts from Heaven

(Intro: Shariff Kabungsuan Festival While Christians prepare for Christmas, the Muslims in Maguindanao prepare for the Shariff Kabungsuan Festival to commemorate the arrival of Islam...

Madonna of endless linen

Our lady of one day at a time Our lady of veils allowed to droop Our lady of the thrice-revised corner Madonna of postponement Madonna of a thumb...