after “Alunsina takes a walk in the rain” by Conchitina Cruz
Whenever you’re scheduled to be lonely, the city takes a deep breath.
This is how it is now: sons and daughters scuttle home, the jeepneys race through the wet streets carrying the last batch of brave passengers. We look at the rivers and gauge your anger.
You cannot succumb to your sadness without choking this city in knee-deep frustration.
So, if you need me to go home, then I must.
Let’s undo the sea and the skies.
Get back my comb, my crown,
and all your carefully patterned stars.
Maybe we should let this tired city drown while I go back to your embrace—
or, for a longer while, let it fester in its own sopping outrage.
Arielle G. Calañas graduated magna cum laude in Bachelor of Arts in English (Creative Writing) from the University of the Philippines Mindanao. Her previous works have appeared in Rabbit, a quarterly journal for nonfiction poetry based in Australia.