Poetry by Loraine Jo | June 1, 2014
Shot glass
left on the table
alone,
wine spill
at the bottom
crystal clear in the
early morning light,
a remembrance of
unsaid love
between two lips
sharing the coldness
of the air
from last night’s
silent bliss.
—
Loraine Jo is a Secondary Education student of Xavier University- Ateneo de Cagayan.
Poetry by Roselyn Geonzon | June 1, 2014
I stopped spilling ink.
Looking for rhymes in
creaks of floorboards.
Lost thoughts and
convoluted words.
But sometimes they’d come in
wisps and whispers.
Like ants
creeping through
crevices and cracks
I end up
crushing.
—
Roselyn Geonzon is an incoming 4th year BSE-English major student at Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan.
Poetry by Nonoy Narciso | June 1, 2014
(from the series: poems inspired by women issues)
1
Kadlawon na buntag na sab
Nahimata ako, mibangon
Usa ka habol na lang ang
Akong pil-on ug hiposon
2
Hinay-hinayog pag-punit
Ning mga buhok nga nahabilin
Ipiyong ang akong mga mata
Ug subayon ta ang gugma
3
Human pag-pagon ang unlan
Ug matag pilo sa habol
mahulagway ang kaagi
Sa lamesa,bintana
4
Sa kawarto ug sa haligi
tsinelas niya sa daplin
didto sa ilawum sa bangko
nag-inusara naghulat
5
Plantsahon ning unipormi
Murag ihatod ko na siya
Padulong sa kamatayon
Bugnaw ang singot sa agtang
6
Saksi ning lawak, ang unlan
Ang habol, ang moskitero
Gaksa ako , o kamingaw
Tugnaw o habuli ako
7
Sa imong pag-inusara
Litratong pilo tan-awa
Mga hulagway tan-awa
Ayaw’g kalimti dumduma
8
Saksi ang lawak
Saksi kining unlan
Saksi kining habol
Gaksa ako, o kamingaw
9
Ug dili nako manghunaw
basin makalimtan ko na
amoy sakong palangga
Gaksa ako, o kamingaw
—
Si Noy Narciso usa ka magtutudlo sa Ateneo de Davao University. Daghan siyag talento: musikero, aktor, direktor, pintor, eskultor.
Poetry by Don Pagusara | May 25, 2014
tropeyo sa paghandom kang lota
mi
da
gay
day
kolor sa rainbow lapas
sa mga ngilit
sa damgo
g i k u d l i s
sa imong mga mata
mga handom nga nanuyla
sa kwadradong balanse
sa dan-ag ug anino
dili basta-basta
mapad-as og
K A M A T A Y O N
—
cas
cad
ing
colors of the rainbow
beyond edges
of dreams
lines and traces
drawn
by your eyes
remembrances that spill out
the framed balance
of light and shadow
oh, never be defaced by
D E A T H
—
Agustin “Don” Pagusara is an award-winning writer and founding member of the Davao Writers Guild. Along with Macario Tiu, he founded the Ateneo de Davao Writers Workshop, which is on its 15th year. This poem was written in memory of Carlota de Pio, Davao writer and artist, who passed away in May 2014.
Poetry by Margaux Denice Garcia | May 11, 2014
if it hadn’t been for the books
thrown about by the stairs
I wouldn’t have noticed
how with each purchase
she revealed herself
one on top of the other
covers pressed upon covers
titles lost upon genres
“The Color Purple”
casting shades of “Black and Blue”
on some oriental “La Bete Humaine”
as “Madame Bovary” vanishes to “Sleep”
with Murakami’s elephants
her majesty has yet again
leafed through the truths
of her characters
flung about in the pages
one would dare ask how the King
gets by with such a collection
but would not dare question why
her bookshelves haven’t been built
—
Margaux Denice Garcia has been a fellow to the Davao Writers Workshop. She teaches literature at the Ateneo de Davao University.
Poetry by Glyd Jun Arañes | April 26, 2014
Hope
it flows in a running stream,
scintillating under the sun
like a vein of liquid treasure.
You can barely cup it with your palms
as it only drips from your fingers,
But the coolness of it
makes you smile.
You take some into plastic bottles,
and share it with the nearby sun-baked children,
sweating as they toil the earth and mud.
They drink Hope,
not a drop escaping their lips,
and they smile.
And you smile too,
because you understand completely
their experience.
—
Glyd Jun Arañes works as a research assistant at the Philippine Women’s College of Davao. This poem is dedicated to the refugees in Ban Mae Surin, Thailand.
Poetry by Simon Anton Nino Diego Baena | April 26, 2014
Yes, there is stillness in darkness, for there is
beauty in light. Yesterday, the world showed me
its wound in the chest of a homeless child, drenched
with rain, begging for crumbs outside the door
of the ancient cathedral, where we converge
and pray on what can never be, whenever we try
to pull the rusty nails from our palms. And there
is grief, for there is always loss, in life. Every morning,
during holy week around 8 am, after a mug of coffee,
the maya birds stop over my balcony to sing a song
I could never ever decipher. And that is a miracle
by itself. Of knowing there are limits. Sometimes
there is a sentiment of defeat at the peak of triumph.
Sometimes, I seek god, in the twirling smoke
of every cigarette I consume, while I wait
with awe for the sky to be filled with stars.
—
Simon Anton Nino Diego Baena is an undergraduate student of MSU-IIT, Iligan city. Originally from Bais, Negros Oriental, now based in Iligan. Some of his poems have already been published in the Philippines Free Press, Philippines Graphic magazine, and Eastlit online literary journal, the upcoming issue 17 of Kartika review, ODDproyekto, and Kabisdak online.
Poetry by Jermafe Kae Angelo-Prias | April 26, 2014
Instrumental
Our room gets smaller,
walls wanting to embrace each other
pouting every detail of that wallpaper as if to kiss
or crumple the silences in between
or fold it, neatly as if origami beds and chairs
dreaming to fly with cranes and paper planes
out your window–
your every breath reminds me how
suffocated words want to escape and be born again
with voices, to speak up the reasons why
this room is getting smaller,
why this room has no more music
only lullabies slowly repeating each goodbyes
so slowly that I can spell it out
with the lyrics of an empty love song.
—
Jermafe Kae Angelo-Prias is a graduate of Creative Writing in University of the Philippines Mindanao. She was a fellow at the 2012 Iligan National Writers workshop and 2005 Davao Writers Workshop. Some of her works have appeared in SunStar Davao and the Best of Dagmay anthology.