Poetry by Angela Geun Hee Lee | July 10, 2011
Two chickens in a
jeepney, with their legs tied, in
silence they travel.
Two cats playing
in the middle of the road
their tails are cut.
–-
Angela Geun Hee Lee, originally from Korea, is a BS Education student at Ateneo de Davao University.
Poetry by Margaux Denice Garcia | July 3, 2011
drink from a cup of bones
eat a pie of decay
bathe in dirt
breathe not fresh air
but poison
here
gods die
to become men
—
Margaux Denise Garcia is taking up BS Education at the Ateneo de Davao University.
Poetry by Sheila Mae Milla | July 3, 2011
her skin is color is brown but she wants it to be white
white
like the color of the people in the land of honey and milk
home of the free and the brave.
white
she wants her color to be white
cause God favors the white
and so
she bleached her sun kissed brown skin
with expensive therapies and medicines
brown
her skin is color brown
brown
like the color of mud
like the color of her mood when she’s sad
brown skin
the color of third world citizens
she doesn’t like her brown skin
its history and what it represents
corruption and poverty
revolutions and slavery
but she has to know that
changing one’s skin
will never change what’s within
And that
medication
modernization
globalization
will never alter the fact
that she is the daughter
of her brown skin forefathers
who fought hard
started a revolution
so she would have the freedom,
to bleach her brown skin
white
—
Shiela Mae Milla studies economics at the University of Southeastern Philippines.
Poetry by Darylle Rubino | June 12, 2011
time, the music planets make,
a dance between silences,
overtures of consciousness,
a requiem of meteorites
past nocturnes of breaths,
supernovas prelude black holes
and the song ends with a breakdown:
a chaotic larghetto of stars
more numerous than grains of sand—
end of playlist, untoggled repeat
—
Darylle Rubino recently graduated cum laude from the University of the Philippines Mindanao with a degree in B.A. English, major in Creative Writing. He was a fellow at the 2011 Iyas Creative Writing Workshop held in Bacolod in May.
Poetry by Alfredo Agreda | June 12, 2011
Bago mo lisanin ang araw na ito
Hagkan mo sa iyong diwa ang mga oras
Na wala kang ginawa kung hindi magmahal
At umawit ng himig nito
Paano mo nga ba nilipad ang tayog ng pangarap?
Paano mo sinisid ang lalim ng panaginip?
Hindi mo man abot ang dulo
Natutuwa na akong sinubukan mo
Kasabay sa pagsabog ng araw
Asahan mo ang patuloy kong pagsamo
Iyo ang aking balikat at ang mga nakarugtong pa rito
Isama mo na ang pangarap at panaginip na nakatago
—
Alfredo Agreda is a full-time marketing officer and a freelance photographer.
Poetry by Don Pagusara | June 5, 2011
Bay Satur, my friend, when was it that Dagohoy by a whistle blow of his lips flew your dream like a kite in the sky?
Wait, you did awake at the flowering season of the word sown by the great Carlos P Garcia, right?
And soon your eyes tried to follow the reaches of your dream as you opened a window of your awakening beneath an awning of your history.
Bay Satur, while your dream was budding leaves abundant you came down to history’s yard and began your trek on a seldom-traveled road.
Long was this journey you took, but you were blessed with more than enough victuals to sustain you in your trek in history.
Poetry by Satur P. Apoyon | June 5, 2011
i.
sa bata pa ako –
wa kong kailag kagul-anan
hubo ako sa kasakit –
lunlon lamang kalipay…
katawa – talidhay,
uban ang pakindangkindang
sa pagdula-dula
uban sa akong mga kabata;
dihay among gugma-gugma,
unya nagminyoay kami,
nagtatay-tatay,
nagnanay-nanay,
ug nag-anak-anak kami!
Poetry by Riza Racho | May 29, 2011
Ingon nila
Dili lisod ang kahimtang sa kabit
Sa pagkatinuod
Swerte ang kabit
Morag nidaog og lotto
Walay papeles na makagapos kaniya
Walay hawla na iyang puy-an
Walay commitment na iyang ampingan
Walay mga ugma na pangandaman
Walay bata na bantayan ug patutoyon
Basta kabit walay kagahapon ug ugma
Ang tanan naa ra sa karon