poems

BACKSTABBERS

You gather the crowd to your delight,And claim you've done so to know of their plight.You hand over scraps because it feels rightBut your impulse, I know, is to give out of spite. You mourn in publicity, the lives gone in the day,And shed tears for the lonely as they...

HAIKUS OF THE SCION

For those who used their political influence to get tested at a time when our healthcare system did not have enough to go on.

THE CALL OF THE RISING SUN

A toast to our re-emergence from this pandemic.

SARANGGOLA

SARANGGOLA

“This is not the day I was looking forward to. I certainly did not expect that it would end like this because I’m not good at saying goodbye. Downhill, I was desperately trying to hold back tears. I had been taken in as an employee without any expectations of what...

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LETTERS TO A WOMAN IN THE FIRE

LETTERS TO A WOMAN IN THE FIRE

For Mrs Eleanor Pal-a Telva Mapangdol. I miss you everyday, mama. I love you so much.   It has been six years since the wastelands stopped burning. Its blackness is evanescent of the historic menace that made her life tragically a stole and its remnants gave rise...

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THE VIBRANCY OF COMING HOME

THE VIBRANCY OF COMING HOME

The door’s always open. But you’re never there. The lamp’s always burning but you’re never there. Your parents are waiting but you’re never there. Your community is waiting but you’re never there. In a country bound by close family ties and enduring culture, stories...

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