Everyone says that
Red is the color
Of love and passion
Which adds meaning to
lovers’ days and
inflames their hungry nights
Yet some of us forget
That red is blood
Personifying...
to Bea Yap Martinez
Banished from a house
in havoc, a broken vase,
a curtain on fire,
I tiptoe here to hide,
a child enisled
in a labyrinth of green,
crouching...
Akala ko, ang pag-iibigan
Ay pag-uusap lamang
At malagkit na tititigan.
Akala ko, ang pag-iibigan
Ay paghahawakan lamang ng kamay.
Akala ko ang pag-iibigan
Ay puro saya’t wala nang lumbay.
Akala...
Dahil ba ako'y bata
Ikaw ay walang awa?
Kung manlaban mahina,
Murang-mura ang diwa.
Dahil ba di mo kaya
Yaong mas matatanda,
Sa akin ibalandra
Ang 'di magawa-gawa.
Dahil nga ako'y bata,
Naiisip...
Did we not, as children, let the seasons
pour from our bosoms- artlessly,
as buds bringing to light. Colors
I painted words in pristine
tonality. The subject
watered by...
For Mariko
This inconsolable distance
Between our lips
Separated by unfamiliar cities
And impassable seas;
This insatiable wonder for the unknown
That grows every day in morbid anticipation
Of the smell...
It’s not language nor the attempt
at a joke: it’s lack of understanding
that dooms the animal crossing the road.
Still, the same oblivion awaits it
inside the...
walking along a familiar road
while seeing a new and different world
your home calls you a stranger
homesick to what he knows and holds
while seeing a...
I fed two takal of rice
Into the newly washed pot.
Scooped water for rinsing.
Fumbled, stirred the seeds
Of Tatay’s perspiration.
Spilled the milky water.
Poured out slowly until...
