Month: June 2017

Kugihang Mag-uuma

Poetry by | June 11, 2017

Kaming mga mag-uuma intawon
Ubos rami kong inyong tan-awon
Peru bisan ingon-ani ra mi sa inyong panan-aw
Kugihan mi sama sa kabaw.

Sa kainit dili mutalaw
Bisan ug hugaw dili maulaw
Sayo pa sa kabuntagon
Nagsugod na sa hagbasonon

Halos kami tanan walay binipisyo
Di parehas sa trabahanti sa gobyerno
Kami ang nagpakaon sa daghang tao
Apan ang ubang propesyonal wala mi gi-respito

Kanus-a pa kaha mi magka-binipisyo?
Kay kung matigulang unsaon pa pagtrabaho?
Wala tood mi nahuman
Apan unta suklian among kakugihan

—
Francis Lopez Cabigas is a second year student of the University of Southeastern Philippines taking up Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering (BSAE). He currently resides in Maco, Compostela Valley Province where his father, his younger brother, and he are farming on their small parcel of land.

In the Company of Strangeness: From Davao to Bucas Grande (Part 2 and Conclusion)

Nonfiction by | June 4, 2017

To pass the time, I ambled around the island. I was told that I could circle the very tip of it in less than an hour, so that’s what I did, though the most exciting thing I found was one red, hairy hermit crab and a curiously vibrant yellow thing that, upon closer inspection, was really just a leaf stuck on a rock.

Back at the resort, I chatted amiably with the caretakers, who spoke a mix of Cebuano, Surigaonun and Waray. There were entire stretches where I didn’t understand anything they were saying, but my oh’s and ah’s were enough to carry me along the conversation. They served me adobong saang (spider conches) and plenty of rice, and seemed amused that a city-dweller like me knew how to eat with my fingers, which is, I guess, the reverse of my own previous patronizing attitude.

Continue reading In the Company of Strangeness: From Davao to Bucas Grande (Part 2 and Conclusion)

Laughing At The Savior

Poetry by | June 4, 2017

A black, stripeless tiger crowned
with a headdress adorned with ferns
Locally sewn, nationally stolen

Rests on the cliff overlooking
The majority of his den. He stays in his reign

With a booming roar that deafens everyone’s
Sight, numbing everyone’s ear, and blinding
Everyone’s taste. No one knows this

But Him, the foul-mouthed tiger tending,
Licking the blood spots dried in its claws.

All of you, this is our savior—

A beast pampered to a spoon heaping
With empty bodies, void of soul
Helpless in this land, better in the afterlife.

He who continues to gloat at every successful hunt
(…quivering wind chimes, we had some good times)
He who used to yammer inside our screens
(…wooed by his offer: the fountain of youth)
He who now prowls deviant of nature’s law
(…silenced, we are silenced)

The gallant born of iron fangs

Marks its paws among his prime possessions,
Looking like a fool as he dances

In high-fashioned bravado—
Must never be touched nor questioned.
If tested,

Welcome the gun on your head
A splatter in one of the city’s many tongues
You won’t be remembered,
Yet a roar will be heard,

proclaiming

As a victor
of (t)his land.

—
Marc Jeff Lañada hails from General Santos City and is an incoming 4th year BA Communication Arts student in University of the Philippines Mindanao.