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Philippines Graphic Reader

Dial “D” for Desire

I was yet to meet a man like him. He sauntered into the room with a gait that announced, Look! I’m here! And by the time the heavy pinewood door swung shut behind him, all my trainees—of which he was to be one—had...

MEMOS

To the Woodcarvers of Betis 1 if i could feel the cold hardness of wood, would i also know your will, woodcarver, your will to hew a soul out of a lifeless slab? what skill does it take to craft complete an art, a promised beauty, defined and fulfilled? if i find the wisdom, then, i...

Indelible Stains

It is Saturday morning. I am down on all fours on the bathroom floor.  My hair is kept up by a plastic clamp; my face, bare. Keeping everything pristine is my compulsion.  Today is no exception. Using a rag soaked in Zonrox, I...

Binondo Church

For its brick walls were blotched with rednessLike a child with a high grown fever,The tolling of its bells, bounty and scared. The plaza on its façade, a space of endearmentFor the taho vendors in selling their drinkable breakfastAnd the jeepneys whose wheels turning...

Ninay and the Spirits

The summer Ninay turned ten, her elder sister told her that she should learn to help around the house. Housework should be done the perfect way, her sister said. “No mess. No noise. No clutter.” But Ninay accidentally dropped plates, cups or spoons...

Unbreakable

Exact is not the word; the hurting is felt in many places. - Joel Toledo Mending is necessary as these respites from fragility will no longer do. Mind the volume dial as it floods you with constants and firmitude. Long before right from wrong: language stolen...

Random Pickings

What Are Years?

“It’s now or never,” said Marie, who’s in her mid-twenties, with a rugged face, vivacious and full of urgency. She took her friend’s right...

The Scent of Coconuts

JANUARY 1, 1924, shortly after the stroke of midnight, was when Luzviminda Cruces was born into this earth in barrio Bunot in a town...

Ashfall

After the blast, the local radio frantically reported “about forty thousand people running for their lives.” Fancy that. Following up on this, I then...

The One-Night Stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Maribel glanced at her plane seat, grateful that she had the aisle seat and only one seat beside her. Her seat mate was a...