Category: Poetry

Hometown Within

Poetry by | April 1, 2024

How can I deny the womb of existence?
No matter how far I am, the string attached
to my navel is rooted in my past.
I pray and eat in a bigger chapel,
in a finer diner, still,
my gods are closer at home
my tongue,
flavored where I first belong,
where my syllables arise
where my beginning words emerge.
Though my arms long for somewhere,
in my hometown is where
my shoes surrender.
On wider roads, I face new places,
memorize new faces.
But my life, despite being
in a new light,
still responds to the fire in my heart.
The embers erupt.

Ross Charlotte Gersava is a graduate of BA English (Creative Writing) from the University of the Philippines Mindanao.

Si Bayang, Naliso

Poetry by | April 1, 2024

kung ilabyog ni Bayang iyang bat-ang
muatras ug abante
daw bawod nga gatamay
sa panit sa baybay
ang kalibutan
sa ilawom sa iyang tiilan.

samtang nagbitaybitay,
samtang nagtabyog-tabyog,
galutaw iyang buhok
sa awaay nga iyang nasunggal.
Iyang utok? Nagtambling,
Nagligid-ligid.

sa matag piyok sa uwak nga nagpatong
sa taas sa iyang hubonan,
iyang ginaihap pipila pa ba ka sikaran sa impyerno
bag-o niya masikaran ang panuway sa panganod…

Carmel Earl Palabrica is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Southeastern Philippines pursuing a degree in Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Cultural Studies.

Awit kay Mansadok

Poetry by | March 25, 2024

(Unang kumpas: Subida)

Hoyohoy nga mikinto pagdaplis sa akong aping
daw gugmang gihidlaw, ginapos, gilaming
Hinagkan aron masubhan ang kamangtas sa adlaw
Sa balhas ko mitilap ang Tagamaling1

Nga unta tutunlan ko man ang nangandoy matagbaw
sa nagdaguok2 nga baha sa nagtiyahong suba
Aron mukalma sa naglumba kong gininhawa,
naghalinghing, nangugat, nagpinitensya

Unsang kalakiha nga mu-awop man ang mga batiis,
Nalup-og, nahubog nga ang latas nanag-ekis
Ang mga bukton nibulig na intawon
kay sa hagdan-ugat3 walay pagkaaron-ingnon
usa ray pamaagi — ang kamang-kamangon.

Kay abig paghangad mo mao na,
pero mga gangis nangatawa
kay lagi paminaw mo gi-lamat ka,
ang uwangonon duna pay duha!

 

(Ikaduhang kumpas: Pag-abot)

Hoyohoy nga na-ingon ug tagolilong
Sa mugbong lasang nanaglimpong4
Pagpasilong ko sa kahoy-unano
Mga gabon mitimbaya sa pag-tugpa ko!

Pamatuod sa pinasahing kaisog
kitang nagbaguod sa pag-aginod,
Pakapin hapdos sa tumang kainit,
mga lapdos sa tabunon tang panit.

Gitaktak mga nikaging nga lapok
gisalikway tanang kasamok
Sa duyan-hoyohoy hayahay daw migaan
gitabyog ang nagpahiyom kong dughan

 

(Ikatulong kumpas: Pakigdait)

Hoyohoy daw mihukas kanako sa katugnaw sa kagabhion,
nagpista ang mga usyusong bitoon,
sila nangalipay nagpasigarbohay,
nigara ug dan-ag para mu-amag akong dagway

Sa banagbanag mituwaw ang antolihaw,
nangiyugpos gihuwat pagbangon sa adlaw
kansang bulawanong pako nagdayan-dayan,
namukaw sa talagsaong tanaman5
Mga sayaw nanghilam-os sa danao mong tin-aw6
Asoy mong talinhaga sa pagtusmaw lamang mahimong tataw

 

(Katapusang kumpas: Pagduyog)

Hoyohoy nga mibisti kanako sa mga buwak, pagkaputli! Pagkatalagsaon!
Mga kaba-kaba7 nagmaya namalakpak, sa hangin nanagbugsay, nanagpanon!

Sa dughan mo Mansadok8 ang tiilan ko nibarog,
diin milatay ang gugma mog kusog
Nipiyong namalandong nga tingali sa pagkinto ko sa ang-ang kinatas-an
makab-ot ko na pagtuktok ang alimpulos sa kalangitan

Aron mahimugso ang giputos tang kasing-kasing,
malingkawas sa pagtak-um ug paglaming
nga sa malantaw tang himaya sa musubang nga adlaw
matunaw na ang paghikaw sa mga gugma tang gihidlaw!

[1] Tagamaling – mga diwata sa karaang Mandaya
[2]  Ang daguok sa Dumagooc River kung magbaha
[3]  Uwang-uwang ang tawag sa uwangan nga ugat sa mga kahoy ang hagdan sa maong pang-pang nga tulo ka ang-ang
[4] Maglimpong ang tawag sa mga mangayamay sa Pygmy Forest tungod sa mag-tuyoktuyok nga hangin gikan sa Pacific Ocean ug Twin Falls
[5] Talagsaong tanaman – Hidden garden and biodiverse natural floral field , rich flora: lady slippers, pitcher plants, orchids, etc.
[6] Tin-aw nga danao – Tinagong Dagat
[7] Kaba-kaba – endemic high altitude butterfly only found in Mt Hamiguitan, Delias magsadana

Roy Guanco Ponce is the Provincial technical focal person for Mt Hamiguitan on UNESCO World Heritage concerns. He has done extensive work on Mt Hamiguitan in terms of its nomination to UNESCO world heritage, trails and campsite development and technical research since 2009.

Maayong Paglakaw, Gali

Poetry by | March 11, 2024

Miabot na gayod ang tukmang panahon,
Mikunsad na sa yuta ang imong bituon.
Giagak na sa balod, sa gabon, ug sa hangin,
Ang kaliwat ni Gaun nga nangita sa kabilin.

Magbakho ang yuta sa imong pagbiya,
Apan sa imong pag-abot, ang langit magsadya.
Ang imong mga Buuy, naghulat na sa pantaw,
Didto sa Talugan kung diin may kalinaw.

Kalinaw kanimo, Anijun (07.20.2020)

 

Si Gine Mae L. Lagnason ay isang full-time faculty member ng Central Mindanao University. Natamo ang digring masterado sa Philippine Studies-Language, Culture, and Media sa Pamantasang De La Salle-Maynila taong 2019. Aktibo siyang nakikilahok sa iba’t ibang gawain at kumperensiyang nagtataguyod sa pagpapalawig ng diskurso sa wika, kultura, panitikan, midya, at edukasyon.

Raindrops falling on

Poetry by | March 4, 2024

Rusty metal sheets
Pitter-patter, run down
The banana leaves
Droplets group
On red cement floor
Shower, splatter, surge;
The television floats.

Clint Jovial Delima is currently a first-year BA English (Creative Writing) student at the University of the Philippines Mindanao.

Burning in Davao

Poetry by | March 4, 2024

Bitter shade or none at all,
underneath the fiery ball,
I bite my teeth as I go outside,
praying to Christ I don’t burn
at the first touch of light.

Metal, cushion, all hot to the touch.
Like my coins as I count how much.
I wonder
how the driver has not melted away
in front of the glass.

I squint and see the metro-inferno
outside: the people walk as if it’s not a hell-hole.
How could one endure sunburn’s gash,
white light,
biting anyone in its path.

Then I remember
days of rain and cloud,
when I prayed it was
burning in Davao.

Benjamin Thursday R. Rosaupan is a student studying AB English in Ateneo de Davao University.

Distância

Poetry by | January 29, 2024

On a bed of grass,
I swallow this scene:
The sky is an ocean.
The clouds, sailing across
the canvas. I drown its white
spaces in shades of blue.

You called it skygazing,
a word that rolls on my tongue
like candy with a sour aftertaste.
I lift the canvas to the heavens
and watch it lodge
perfectly into place.

Then the scene changes:
The sun starts to retreat,
hours turn to minutes
turn to seconds turn to
an oil spill across the horizon,
fishes shimmering in moonlight.

I sink my brush again
and begin to repaint history.
My hands, cold in your absence.
My eyes follow the colors
rowing back and forth,
a lullaby calming the tides.

That night,
I look up once more
and echo your name,
hoping that the waves in the sky
would carry my voice
back to your shores.

Raphael Salise is a Creative Writing graduate from the University of the Philippines Mindanao. He likes to read poems, short stories, and essays by Filipino writers as he someday aspires to become successful like them. Raph is currently taking up Law at Ateneo de Davao University.

talc

Poetry by | January 22, 2024

last night, at 2 am,
i was going through my dressing table
looking for something to
soothe my shaved legs with
when i found a bottle
of your favorite talcum powder—
the one that smelled like jasmine, sakura, and freshly bathed babies.

how you loved patting it all over your face until it made you look like a clown,
how i knew that you were there
the moment its powdery floral scent
hit my nostrils
and you would greet me with the excited
smile of an elderly woman
convinced that her dead mother
is alive and waiting for her outside.

i remember the three small packs of biscuits that you innocently gave me as a “christmas gift” last year not knowing that it would be our last.

the foldable umbrellas you would take with you everywhere—rain or shine.

the piggyback rides on the way home from school back when i was four, just because you wanted to.

grief is a bottle of talcum powder long past its expiration date that still brings back memories of the scent it used to have.

i stare at the white plastic bottle. its twistable pink cap. the dark blue text against its white label.

and in the 2 am silence of my room,
i wait for God to tell me
that you’re up there laughing
with a basket of freshly
picked flowers in your hands,

that a life lost is not ashes to the ground.

but i hear nothing—and the enormity of it swallows me whole for the first time.

Gabrielle Marie Felio is a BS Psychology graduate who finds solace in embracing the rawness of life through literature.