Seeking
In silence I render my song
In stillness I yield
In the dimness and the brightness
I could see that it is
The One
Still I seek
I am drawn to the distant sound
Of waves splashing on waves
Of rocks breaking on rocks
Of soft rain seeking to blend with...
Stone and Scratcher
after a photo by Frank Cimatu
My human knows how to scratch
ecstasy and submission out of me,
rendering my retractable claws
cold as a wet nose.
My side turns into a Zen garden.
I lie, a stone smoothed by hands
of love, slender fingers
tracing landscapes on my...
I see a scarecrow
On the yellow moon
By the window
Of the third kind
Woman or man
I ought to know
I look to the left
It shifts to the right
Towards Venus
I look to the right
It pivots to the left
Away from Polaris
But the night
Out of the spotlight
Restarts daylight
A Dirge
(Majayjay-Lucban Road,
June 16, 2024)
How swift the shift
from Thalia’s smile
to Melpomene’s frown.
One moment, Jack
was about to crack
a joke. Then smack
into our bus the trike
smashed, a deadly
strike. Traffic crawled
at the bloody spectacle
of the sprawled body
splayed in a strange
angle. Dazed in shock,
I brace myself
for a...
The Demanding Gospel
For Sunil Stephens
“Luke’s Gospel is a gospel of mercy; it emphasizes Jesus’ identification with the poor and the lowly, and His willingness to forgive sinners. Yet it is also a demanding gospel, for it shows that being a follower of Christ...
When My Father Passed Away
This theater is a slaughterhouse
where filaments of grief
are too shifty to cut,
amusing guests who come
along with gestures
broadly understanding
what brought them in,
inscribing very clearly
associations overhanging
with the deceased.
The bereaved insists on
what needs to be preserved
along fertility lines, which
unkind behavior should
be dismembered.
Here,...
The sea and the sky
Swap their eternities
The waves with the clouds
And everywhere
Fishes fly birds swim
Farmers cast seines
Fishers sow seeds
Waterways counterflow
Waterfalls go into reverse
All of...
Like a shoebox cramped with preserved
Fragments of quite a life lived by—the letters
From a childhood friend, puppy love remembered
A ribbon, the first book gifted,...
It’s not only to crush
You under the
Soles of my
Feet
But to erase you
And your
Shadow
So that nothing
Remains
Even memories of your
Being here
It’s not only to
Have you
Gone
Piece-by-piece
That will...