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.

THE 2007 JUAN DELA CRUZ

THE 2007 JUAN DELA CRUZ

The changing frontiers of Juan dela Cruz’s mindset have been prevalent since the sharp political changes were made by pure will. As the year closes, a glint of hope is seen anew for his country especially that indifference has become a customary reaction to the...

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THE ROCKING CHAIR

THE ROCKING CHAIR

For my grandfather, the late Paul Mapangdol, Sr. Some of the best conversations in life happen when it’s the last. At twenty, he was able to have the best one to leave an imprint in his life. It was with his grandfather. On the shore, they were facing the setting sun....

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DAD, WHAT DOES A TREE LOOK LIKE?

DAD, WHAT DOES A TREE LOOK LIKE?

At last: Juan has a child with whom he tells stories at bedtime. He fidgeted, swallowed and stared at his daughter’s expectant eyes. Brown eyes as they are, he thought of an answer, snuggled in bed with her, and began telling her a story back when the land was still...

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DESTINATION: LAKE DRIVE

DESTINATION: LAKE DRIVE

Wanna ride? From all society’s minds the riders come Split identities by morality, Reputation and earthly cravings. Angels by morning, Vampires by night. Sons of their ancestors they are Whose backs are bare And whose faces unseen.   Come on, where the journey starts...

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IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER

You     blinded     my insight with the plot that    yielded    my passion’s    recesses. You    gagged    my mouth as you poured the     essence     of my  deliverance.  In darkness    and     in flames, you scorched my holiness.  You bound my blessing with a sacred...

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