Seven Months

August,

Here is the start
A friend’s help felt
Happiness in the meeting of eyes
On the 31st

September,

Started with your day
Ceremony of Nightingale
Annoyed with the meaning of names
But forgiveness is the prize

October,

The dream performance
Where no one else watched
You sang for the Virgin
Wished for something that changed your life

November,

Want to know me better
Messages of the nurse
In SSC was memory
On the third was a poem

December,

‘Tis the brightest
Surprise for the first time
Comments, I wouldn’t believe
Conversations on the phone

January,

Still there, still you
Fabricated the perfect poem
In that piece, it was you
Confession was my plan

February,

Plan postponed
Did best as Hans
To wait was next
Some other time

March,

last month
last dance
rain fell
giving up

But the poem remains
More beautiful each day
This bag of memories
Stored in my depths

June 9, 2009

Goodbye, A Sweet Sorrow

with excerpts from Michelle Branch’s Goodbye To You

“Of all the things I believed in
I just wanna get it over with
Tears form behind my eyes but I do not cry
Counting the days that pass me by.”

I showed them my smiles
In those last days
I never showed the nights
When the rain fell

“Goodbye to you
Goodbye to everything I thought I knew
You are the one I love
The one thing that I tried to hold on to…”

This is truly goodbye
To all the special love
I tried to hold on for long
But the grip wasn’t strong enough

“It hurts to want everything and nothing at the same time
I want what’s yours and I want what’s mine
I need you but I’m not giving in this time…”

It is all or nothing
My heart, my inspiration, my passion
I want them all and need them all
I offer them now for sacrifice

“When the stars fall
I will lie awake
You’re my shooting star…”

Goodbye
I’d no more tears to cry
Just ink to spread out
I love you that it hurts…

April 10, 2009

Memoirs of a Frustrated Ilocana

My nostalgia is in you, Ilocandia
I’m glad for being sown in your bosom
Ay ayatin ka, napintas nga balay*
Your roof flew when I was asleep
You feasted in green and red when I woke
My heart contains your bagoong, tupig, and bibingka
My feet are stained with sand, white and gray
My hair flies with your wind…

*I love you, beautiful house

November 22, 2008

The Turtle’s Dream

This is a story about a turtle who dreamt of becoming a human being all because of one crazy reason. He wanted to experience drinking milk. He had been spotting a milk carton in the pantry parallel to his aquarium. He tried to get out of his habitat but his master always catches him and returns him to the water-filled glass block.

Eventually, the time came for his victory. While his master was on vacation, he once again crawled out of his habitat and, this time, he reached the nearest spot from the milk carton. After some time, at last, he got hold of the carton but because of his excitement, the milk carton fell from the pantry and onto the floor. The milk scattered. The turtle became so sad and desperate to drink milk that he then threw himself to the floor…..

The turtle did not die, don’t worry. In fact, he is now very happy. He absorbed the milk on the floor and realized that he is a stuffed toy. The aquarium he thinks is filled with water is actually a glass tray where his master puts all his beloved stuffed toys… mostly turtles…

November 4, 2008

Turtle Part II

It hurts to remain a turtle. People will still say I’m slow.
That I bring bad luck. That I function as a pet and a part of an exotic meal.
Never heard because I can’t utter a sound.

That I really don’t have a purpose.

It hurts to be ridiculed

Always used in that negative metaphor

No matter how I fight

It’s still the same

It seems like I’m boxed forever

In this empty cellar made for me

With features I will never lose

Forever will stay

I am still slow

I still carry my ugly shell on my back

I bring bad luck to the Chinese

But, sorry, folks,

I guess I’ll be crawling on

Your tombs before I die…

150 years or more,

Can any human beat that?

August 3, 2008