The Philippines Graphic Reader
The first and only nationally-circulated magazine on Philippine literature in English
LET YOUR SHORT STORY OR POEM SHINE!
Fiction
Under the Withered Roof
The tears I dropped on my mother’s casket were wiped off with an off-white handkerchief by a hand filled with bulging veins and dominating...
Fiction
Rise in Love
A ping sounded on my phone, and the words blinked on the screen at six in the morning.
“RISE IN LOVE.”
I squinted at the screen,...
Fiction
The Man with Horns
Close to the end of my ties with Catharine, I was inconveniently reminded of the time when I learned that I grew up with...
Philippines Graphic Reader
Lines from My Nepal Notebook
A whiff of jasmine
Rose petals scattering
Mighty pines dancing
Bamboos swaying, dipping, snapping back
Sunflowers gazing at their namesake in giddy worship.
A windy spring day in Godavari.
(April,...
Philippines Graphic Reader
A Portrait of My Father
Last night was your birthday
Forgot to tell my cousin
to light a candle
on your grave.
DID I LOVE YOU ENOUGH
DID MY WORDS HURT YOU
YOUR SHADOW STALKED...
Philippines Graphic Reader
The Arrangement of Falling Things
Along the walk to the InstituteThe Indian cork tree begins its silent shift.White, five-pointed stars rest on the pavement,not fallen, but arranged,as if the...
Philippines Graphic Reader
Making Believe
How long to carry on this pretense
That, yes, I am now fine
Making believe that you are just away on another
Of your many leavings
But how...
Fiction
These Invisible Forces
There was pain, lots of it. And it seared. It felt like fire, or like being eaten alive. Vincent screamed, using that one scrap...
Fiction
Someone Else Will Help
Is the goodness of a man determined by the purity of his intentions or by the deeds he brings into the world? And what,...
Fiction
Deliverance
Odessa accepted the fact that the Metro Manila she had known thirty years ago was now a mere memory. Seated inside an old van...
Fiction
A Triangle of Triangles
She's a great little housewifeThough sometimes she talks like a foolBut she helps at the store in the holiday rushAnd she picks up the...
Fiction
Love by Algorithm
“Good morning, Doc.”
“Have a seat Mr. Peñaflor. I am Dr. Anton Abalos, but you can call me Ant or Doc Ant, whichever makes you...
Philippines Graphic Reader
Born of the Earth
We were all once
born of the earth—
keeper of her breath,
kin to root and river,
to feather and fur,
to the anito, the diwata,
and the taw’t talun,
spirits...
Philippines Graphic Reader
Song of Nothing
Sunday blessed peace from nothing—
and nothing was a woman reduced
to a child's love running after drunken anger
letting go of nothing,
again nothing—
nothing was napping in...
Philippines Graphic Reader
Pablo Tariman Spotted at Gourmet Gypsy Café
come to me in the high notes
of an oboe amidst the din of
a cafe turned concert venue
for in your hands & vision
every place can...
Philippines Graphic Reader
The Bliss of Old Socks
I toss brand new socks back and rifle
through drawers for solace and kindness
The old ones surrender and smile at me
the garters have given up...
Philippines Graphic Reader
Risen
All that I've got is a sinful heart
I am offering. What is it for a cloak in you
that I wanted to be clothed in?
Blessing...
