Poetry by Henrietta Diana de Guzman | June 14, 2009
gamayng kahayag sa samin,
ang dyutay kong namatikdan
kalkag nga buhok,
muta sa mata,
uga nga ngabil,
hinay hinay
kong gitulon
ang napan-os kong
laway.
naghubog ang duha ka
pulong
ikaw ug ako
madayganon ka
dinhi kanako
Poetry by Allen Samsuya | June 7, 2009
We might not come back home for awhile to Cotabato
because there are more things to do than catch a bus
and travel a tedious 6 to 7 hours. Imagine the hassle
of having to stop by a terrible total of 10 terminals
and all for what? Once there, we’ll probably waste our weeks
on good-for-nothing visits to former classmates’ houses,
old friends, and dozens more of other people we used to know
so well, but now find hard to even barely recognize—
as when we chance upon them whenever we buy
our fruit shakes and burgers at Manong’s, or when we shop
for overpriced stuff at South Seas, or at nights when we party
and waste ourselves at Pacific Heights.
Poetry by Wang Loreto | June 6, 2009
Kapag naririnig ko ang il postino
Nag iiba ang aking mundo.
Napupuno ng iyong masasayang alaala
Na minsa’y nakatago sa munting box kong dala-dala.
Kapag naririnig ko ang il postino
Nag iiba ang anyo ng aking mundo.
Maaliwalas, napupuno ng pag-asa
Ang aking damdaming nakabilanggo, nagpapaubaya
Ang aking tinatanging panaginip, napapantasya
Ang imaheng na ako’y nasa iyong bisig. Napakasaya
Sa duyan ng mga nota ng biyolin, piano at gitara,
Ikaw at ako, pinag-iisa.
Poetry by Paul Randy Gumanao | May 31, 2009
Pinili mong sumayaw
sa ritmo
ng kanyang mga tula;
Pinili mong kumanta
sa himig
ng kanyang mga salita.
Pinili mong
siya ang isilid
sa said na espasyong
namamagitan
sa iyong puso’t isipan.
Pinili mo ang isang makata.
Poetry by Genevieve Mae Aquino | May 24, 2009
It’s a contradiction, this curious round thing
changing from hard green to ripe yellow
with the bright blush of its hidden heart.
O pomelo, you filled my childhood in abundance
and you rolled down Davao streets like rain!
Familiar to my mouth as the mother tongue,
you defy my attempts at definition.
You’re too individual to be an orange,
and too charming to be called a lemon,
yet you mock the grapefruit’s pallid flesh.
How I struggle for words to contain
the thick bitter softness of your rind,
the juicy honeyed tang of your pulp!
But to hold you is to comprehend you
and to fathom you is to eat you.
In the artificial cold of supermarket stalls,
So small a gift from the Land of Promise,
I yearn to claim your ripening roundness
and partake your sweetness before it decays.
But they’ve put a price on you beyond my reach.
O pomelo, I long for you as I do my homeland
where we both were once free as eagles in flight.
I know inside you is full to bursting
with tales of home, much like my hidden heart
where my blood flows a bright pomelo pink.
Poetry by Vangie Dimla-Algabre | May 24, 2009
Mananaig ba ang mga balumbon ng ulap
Makikita ko ba ang mga ginintuang hibla
O di kaya ay sadyang uulan at aaraw
Upang makaniig ko ang mga kerubin
Nakangiti kahit gusgusin?
Poetry by Vangie Dimla-Algabre | May 24, 2009
ano ang hugis ng pag-ibig
ito ba’y parisukat
nakakulong
sa iyong bawat naisin
ito ba’y tatsulok
karibal ang haplos ng kahapon ang bukas
ngayon
ito ba’y bilog
paurong-sulong
walang katiyakan
ito kaya’y walang hugis
pumipintig
hindi mayapos
dumadaloy
pumipitlag
dahil sa iyo
Poetry by Anne Shane Baluca | May 9, 2009
What is home?
A child asked
as the sun sinks
lower to nothingness.
Is it just a place
where you can find
comfort,
even when there is too
much rain or sunshine?
Home cannot just be found.
A shelter, yes, everyone can find.
But home is a place
where you can find comfort,
even if it is uncomfortable inside.