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Philippines Graphic Reader

FROM SEAWARD AND OTHER POEMS

Seaward Escaping the harshnessof a pandemicI swim for this                                                        antipathy to endlike sandscapes wheresea turtles go underto lay...

Four Poems for the Future

Nothing’s Too Far There is no escaping the long arm of memory, & the more I try to, I turn to it instead: During trips to my father’s house tucked deep in Badbad, I learned as a child to look at the blurring flowers when responses to “Are...

The Bandit Who Banished the Aswangs

YOU NEVER FELT so secure before…. Hovering above the now-unshackled pristine and fertile triangular island of 1566 Bamban were familiar crimson cumulus clouds. Fresh off the ships, the towering yet mapuraw bangús-white people—with broken Bisaya—claim that the Sicily-like land, brimming with oyster shells...

PHILIPPINES GRAPHIC READER August 2022

In our August 2022 issue, novices and veterans share their literary works. Read multi-awarded poet, fictionist, and essayist ROWENA TIEMPO TORREVILLAS’ poem “AWA-AO (for Gemino Abad)” and “Maranatha” from poet MILA AGUILAR SHORT STORIES“Say My Name” by Tansi Ajette P. Gabriel“The Rag Dolls” by...

Only When It Rains

Pluviophile. She had to look that word up because she wanted to know if there was a term to describe people like her. People who love the rain, according to Google. People who find joy and peace of mind in rainy days. She didn’t know...

GRANDSON OF BAYAWAK

I have been bullied since I was a kid. People have been calling me the grandson of bayawak. I never knew why such a name has become a part of me. From the time I grew up, I have been called bayawak. I...

Random Pickings

Familiar Encounter

FICTION — “Don’t be like Uncle Norm.” Those were my mother’s last words to me before I stepped foot inside the airport.

Cut

I stretched my fingers, and there I feltA cut, a slit of tender fleshUncertain where it came from, or when —Maybe yesterday, over piles...

Feed Me

Amanda's heart raced as she navigated through the sea of well-dressed attendees at the charity event. The grandeur of the venue was overshadowed by...

Salt Prayer

"There must be something strangely sacred about salt.It is in our tears and in the sea."from SAND AND FOAM (1926) by Khalil Gibran Matthew 5:13—...