Poetry by Shelifa Alojamiento | September 16, 2007
Paano kaya kita kakausapin
Nang walang sinasabi
Walang hinihingi
Walang minumungkahi
At walang dinaramdam
Nais kong maging maingat
Sa aking pagdaan
Manabi-tabi, ituring kang
Isang ilang na lugar
Tahimik na susubayin
At buong galang na iiwanan
Hahayo nang walang galit
Walang gustong nakawin
At walang ni anong dadalhin.
Poetry by Anna Moira Lanzona | September 16, 2007
The pen is mightier than the sword
But the PC is mightier than the pen
But the cell is mightier than the PC
But the radio is mightier than the cell
But the cable TV is mightier than the radio
But the power company is mightier than the cable company
But the bank is mightier than the power company
Perhaps I shall work for the bank
Poetry by Paolo Ray Bataller | September 9, 2007
One day, I saw a driver
He was getting off his jeep
He ran to the roadside, stood against a wall
And became a priest
He stood with his legs apart
Looked up to the sky above
Bowed down his head in prayer
And clasped his hands in front of his hips
In silent supplication
In fervent adoration
Then he started to perform his rite
And suddenly out gushed
A spray of amber water
The driver has blessed the concrete wall
And washed away its sins
Poetry by Pam Bitang | September 9, 2007
I like the sound of water
crooning like nature’s song
from a mountain’s secret streams
I like its voice, like a lover’s
echoing whispers
within a pool in a cavern
sometimes subtle, like dew
on a yawning leaf,
it can whoosh as if in a rush
and slap against daring rocks and ridges—
at times oddly thoughtful,
it putters and plops
and trickles on a window sill;
or merry, it blends
with the shrieks and splashes
of running naked limbs—
forbidding, it roars
with the force of an angry ocean;
hurt, it whimpers—the sound
muffled by a confining bottle
or glass—
quiet, it lies gagged and imprisoned,
locked by a trembling eyelid.
Poetry by Tita Lacambra Ayala | September 2, 2007
When I talk
To you and you answer
With a sigh or
Asterisk I am at
A loss
For words just
As well
And then we converse
In long
Or short
Silences and a smattering
Of footnotes
You and I
We do not talk anymore
And all our asterisks
Are turning
Into flowers.
Poetry by Lia Lopez Chua | September 2, 2007
All day long for two days I had longed to see you
Now you are dead
And all I have is this desire
Monumental and cracked
To run as fast as I can
Into the unyielding heat of the desert sun
Into the hot fury of my own heart
Where love long and immemorial
Could not save you
I was told you smiled on your way out
Knowing you it had to be the thousand little golden stars of your childhood
The ones that named you after their own light
Because like them you too are brilliant
And of another world
You were perhaps seven or eight again
Or maybe a grown man as you are now
Comforting yourself as you begin to die
Among the same stars that came to you in the same dream
Always in the softest glow and the scent of cinnamon
Poetry by Jhoanna Lynn Cruz | September 2, 2007
Shiokumi Doll
Waves in kimono,
two pails, his jacket, and hat
drowning in desire.
She wears his clothes and becomes –
man enough, to fetch water.
Poetry by Linda Bansil | August 26, 2007
Paano kung ang tula ay may katawan?
Magpupursigi kaya itong ibenta
ang kaluluwa sa bangketa?
Paano kung ang tula ay maaari nang
pambayad-utang sa puting may-ari
ng pandaigdigang kalakalan?
Maiahon kaya nito ang Pilipinas sa kahirapan?
Ano ba ang magagawa ng makatang tulad ko
Na hanggang sulat lang ang kayang gawin?