Poetry by Anne Shane Baluca | April 20, 2008
What is home?
A child asked
as the sun sunk lower
into nothingness.
Is it just a place
where you can find
comfort, even with
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 doesn’t seem so inside.
Poetry by Henrietta Diana de Guzman | April 20, 2008
It was already late when
She came out of the
cold rain at
San Pedro Street.
Like a homeless cat
She prowled. Her
eyes illuminating
Penetrating more than
The lights around the city.
Continue reading Her Business on San Pedro St.
Poetry by May Ledesma-Barcenas | April 13, 2008
A happy childhood, I had one
Once…
But now, finding myself alone,
is like reality slapping me on the face,
painfully… mercilessly… agonizingly slow… deadly…
Yet I’m alive,
Yes, I’m alive
not because I’m fortunate,
not because I’m given another chance
But because…
it would be unfair for the world
to see me get away with it
while others cannot
I have to feel the pain
I have to bear the hurt
I have to cry
I have to die…
Then live again,
For what? For whom?
I’m alone….
Poetry by May Ledesma-Barcenas | April 13, 2008
shattered once
died twice
the world is founded
on naught but lies…
broken vows
broken dreams
a life not fair
and full of schemes…
walking without knowing
giving without taking
trusting and believing,
loving…. then … dying…
Poetry by Bernard Julian Patiño | March 30, 2008
In Boracay it’s Christmas
all year round, or at least
it’s always in anticipation
of some windfall from a white
fat guy, bearer of gifts: dresses,
perfume, jewelry, dinner, cash –
hopefully tagged with a clause
to marry in the future. For now
she needs to be naughty and nice,
play with him in the water,
be like the sea and lap him up;
he’ll have to buy her a halo-halo
to cool the hot elf down –
tearing open the presents for later.
For now he wants to stroll up
and down this wintry wonderland
(or at least she wonders if his snow
is any finer than her white sand);
she clings to the elbow of this man-tree,
the top of which she’d like to crown
with a star – later when he goes down.
For now she strains her legs to keep up
with him, walking on tiptoe to keep
her stilettos from sinking in the sand.
Poetry by Gregg Galgo | March 30, 2008
For Samal Island
The beach was a naked beauty
until brusque men from afar
heard of her and came:
one, two, all came,
deflowered her pristine waters –
she a frail captive of
the artichoke of their wanderlust.
A haven turned into a harem,
they forced her,
a virgin handmaid, to dance
the song of the wind.
Poetry by Henrietta Diana de Guzman | March 23, 2008
Batid kong hirap ka sa kinatatayuan mo
ngayon kaibigang kasoy.
Oo nga’t madilaw at mukha kang matamis
kapag hinog
subalit bakit pagkatao
mo’y nasa kinalahati?
Alam kong sa loob nakalakip ang iyong
walang hanggang pagsisisi
at sa labas nakausli
dunong at kagandahan
na iyong inasam;
sa labas ng iyong kampana
tila mukha kang nagbigti.
Continue reading Pangaral ni Juan Tamad kay Kasoy
Poetry by Henelsie Barriga | March 16, 2008
Nigula
gikan sa lubot
sa mayang nagpalami
sa bayabas nga hinog.
Nahagbong
Itom, nagtikoskos
daw siling kuyos
apan sa sulod
may lisong
nangandoy
sa sidlak
sa adlaw.