Category: Poetry

Requiescat In Pace

Poetry by | February 27, 2011

Verdi’s Dies Irae is playing in the background.
Carefully I listen, without wonder.
I am in the mood for it, as if I intended that
it be played.
No one cared.

I am alone and I feel very light.
Nothing seems to matter.
Slow is time’s passing
as if a second is forever
and a minute, unspeakable.

I see people around me;
their mouths moving as if speaking —
Whispers. Murmurs.
They do not talk to each other,
they are speaking to me.
Not a word is audible, comprehensible;
in fact, I hear nothing.
What they speak is silence.

Continue reading Requiescat In Pace

Auction

Poetry by | February 27, 2011

I have borrowed you from Moment
when life’s stringent as my budget,
tricked it into pawning up to my last
breath at such a sky-high interest.
I didn’t notice the grace period
and before I knew it, it’s already
auctioned. Soon I will become somebody
else’s secondhand treasured possession.

— 
Orlando Sayman is an A.B. Literature graduate from AdDu and is currently teaching at DMMA College of Southern Philippines.

As You Know Nothing

Poetry by | February 13, 2011

The world is a crazy place;
There’s always room for the right and wrong people.
But, despite the fact that there are always two kinds of entities
this pit has always had a niche for people to squeeze themselves in.
And no matter how tight that little space,
One will always find solace in a corner
To appreciate the world go by in a day.

Our planet is a fuzzy little shell.
Its enigma keeps us looped and drawn in;
No matter how much we break free
The rope that binds is never too strong or too slight to cut through.
And as you already know, everyone is an element of the world,
Part and parcel, part of the whole,
Co-existing in chaos and harmony.

All this knowledge make you think you already know what it takes to live
For you appreciate the world as we all know it,
For we appreciate humanity as we live it,
For we love as we feel it
For we curiously navigate as we sail through life’s ebbs
For we rise as we fall
And we live through it all!

Continue reading As You Know Nothing

The Cellist

Poetry by | February 13, 2011

I wish I was your cello
in frenzy at the touch of your bow, stirring
as your erratic fingers pluck
my still but waiting strings, gasping
while you control your breathing
and dance madly
to the notes you were playing,
to the music that only a cello and the cellist can hear;
reverberating, convulsing, until the orchestra stops,
until the lights went off
that marks the end of our piece.

I’m listening.

—
Myan Declaro took up AB English Creative Writing in UP Mindanao and is currently working at Caraga State University.

Relo

Poetry by | February 6, 2011

Kining relo nga kalit niundag tuyok
Dili usa ka makinang daot.
Kini ang akong pagbating gitipigan,
Gisuksok sa pamasing ang tanan makalimtan.

Ug diha sa suok siya nagpaabot.
Sa hilom, naghandom nga pansinon,
Nag-ampo nga sa maka-usa pa,
Sul-obon.

Apan ang akong kasingkasing
Gipul-an na. Gikapoyan nag ilis.
Naluya sa mga kuso-kuso,
Nawad-an og kusog sa pagpanlubag.

Kining relo nga niundang og pitik
Dili usa ka makina. Kini usa ka pagbating
Nahinanok ug wa kamata.
Di na ko mopalit og bag-ong baterya.

—
About Jayson Parba: Si Jayson usa ka magtutudlo sa Capitol University sa Cagayan de Oro City.

Poetry by | February 6, 2011

They defined love right before we knew it;
boxed it, typecast it even before we saw it,
and actually felt it:
     bright red silk and sheets
     of sun-dried passion;
yet they never told us it could be this painful. About Rory Bualan: “I teach, read and write. 😉 …and eat and diet.”

Gising at Mulat

Poetry by | January 30, 2011

Ako’y nabuhay ng gising
Gising sa bawa’t kataga
Gising sa bawa’t salita
Gising saking bawa’t gawa.
Ako’y nabuhay ng mulat
Mulat aking mga mata
Mulat itong kaluluwa
Sa tinatahak ng paa.

Kitang kita ko ang tinta,
Ang bawa’t guhit at pinta
Ang bawa’t hugis at hubog
Ang bawa’t ilaw at linya.
Natatanaw ko ang daang,
Patungo sa katapusan
Patungo sa kabayaran
Nitong aking bawa’t hakbang.

Ako’y nabuhay ng gising,
Mulat sa bawa’t alamat
Alam ko’ng ang bawa’t sulat
Ay may sukli na katapat.
Ngunit bakit ba ganito?
Alam ko na mali ito,
Kasalanan itong sakdal
Kumakawag pa rin ako

Bakit di ko malabanan,
Bakit di ko mapataob
Halimaw na nilalamo’t
Nagpapahina ng loob?
Hindi na nga yata sapat,
Malaman tama sa mali
Dapat matutong magbuhat
Ng maleta’t magmadali.

Dahil baka mapag-iwanan,
Ka na nga ng panahon.
Mga prinsipyo mo noon
Baka di na angkop ngayon.
Hindi na nga yata sapat,
Maging gising maging mulat.
Dapat malaman mo kung paano
Ihahagis ang lambat.

Jhunorjim Caumbo Zandueta is a Computer Engineering student from ADDU.

Ka (Adlaw) on

Poetry by | January 24, 2011

Ngit-ngit pah ug tugnaw gihapun,
Ang mga dahon nakayuko, mga bulak nakapilo.
Kahilum nigakos sa palibot, ni hunghong wala,
Mga mananap tulog pah, mga bampira ug wakwak pauli nah.

Ang yuta basa sa ni-agi na ulan gabii,
Gilkaligu-an ang dugay nang uga na yuta.
Sa pag gakos sa katugnaw sa mga dahon,
Nakahilak sila, ang luha na anaa sa tumoy,
Mihulat sa una na pag-agi sa bugnaw na hangin,
Muuyog, mupukaw sa tulog na kalag.
Ang luha mutulo, mutabo sa buhi nga yuta.

Pila pa ka oras ang milabay,
Ang kamatuoran sa tanan misidlak nah.
Ang kahayag na mikalat, mikatag, mipukaw sa tanan.
Nitugsok, nidunggab sa mga dahon.
Dili para mupatay kun dili para mubuhi.
Tanan maagi-an, mimata, nabati ang pagpukaw sa kinaiyahan
Na dala puros gugma — ngadto sa tanan,
Wala nag nilaog.

Ug ang mga dahon nituskig, magsugod sa bag.o nga adlaw.
Ang mga bulak mibukad, hatagan ang kalibutan sa  bag.o nga paglaum.
Mga mananap, magamay-madaku, nilihok, nilakaw, nigawas —
Para ipadayun ang kinabuhi.

Kini ang kamatuoran na kulang ang pagsabot para mahibaw-an.
Kinahanglan bati-on, buhi-on.
Ug dili puede na dili, ang tao apil niini.
Sa kadlawon ang paghulat sa paglaum na hayahay.
Dili gabii ni buntag.
Sinugdanan ug Katapusan.
Sa kadlawon, gibuhat ang tanan.

Tyron Keith Sabal is finishing his undergrad studies in philosophy at Xavier University, Ateneo de Cagayan.