Poetry by Tyron Keith Maru Varias Sabal | November 21, 2010
Je prends un thé au lait.
Je prends un thé nature.
Un café noir, s’il vous plait.
Voila!
Merci,
Monsieur.
Saba raw diha!
Aw, unsa ba diay?
Wa man ta sa France.
Naa lang sa kegeyen.
Poetry by Elmer Sayre | November 14, 2010
I have every material wealth conceivable-
A mansion in the hill, fatuous women;
A fleet of cars, fat contracts;
Cupboard brimming, fat belly;
Mile-long bankbooks, fat arthritis;
I crave for more and more and more,
Except that I don’t crave for god anymore-
My god is a small god, if anything at all.
—-
Elmer Sayre writes from Initao, Misamis Oriental.
Poetry by Miguel Antonio Lizada | November 14, 2010
And sometimes, you just feel it
because quickness, the twin of youth
can turn dark. It may come
like that. A sentence, then the period,
then space and suddenly, for a moment, your life
finds full form, in paragraphs on another paper:
you were good. Yes, you were good.
Goodness at this point is a genre,
the template of remembering.
Oh but see the body still. The body,
the body is a living book of the dead:
your cells, the syllables of generations.
So I tell you now what grief is:
a sentence forcing the spine to snap
a book shut, before it’s passed on, held
by handshakes, read out loud
by a kiss.
—-
Migoy Lizada is finishing his graduate studies at the National University of Singapore.
Poetry by Jobelle Obguia | October 31, 2010
Sa bula ng beer
May nakakubling tamis
Sa bula ng beer
Ngiti ay pagtangis
Sa bula ng beer
Mundo’y higit na maganda
Sa bula ng beer
Napuno ng akala
Sa bula ng beer ibinurda
Mga yapos at pagsinta
Sa bula ng beer naniwala
Sa walang katuparang sumpa
Sa bula ng beer nakatala
Mga wikang agad nabubura
Ang bula ng beer at aking mga luha
Sa pait hindi nagkaiba
—-
Jobelle Obguia graduated with a degree in Business Management from Ateneo de Davao University.
Poetry by Allen Samsuya | October 24, 2010
Someday, when science makes it possible for us
to put up convenient stores in space,
we’ll build one and do business and live our days
by selling everyone pure unadulterated stars
It’s sure to sell like crazy since everyone
wants something stellar, something brilliant,
cosmic and quaint, yet familiar
enough for comfort.
Something like all other things—
kept in order in neat shelves,
tagged with fixed prices,
readily available over the counter.
And when on the verge of being black holes,
they’d remain just as convenient—
instant escape to inescapable places, the end
of all things, the universe’s Doomsday special.
—-
Allen Samsuya studies creative writing in UP Mindanao. He was a fellow at the Davao Writers Workshop 2009.
Poetry by Vida Mia Valverde | October 17, 2010
Splintered into a myriad pieces
A noiseless breaking
Into bloody shards and salty droplets
The world stands still.
Resting on the ground
Feebly glistening in the sun
Turning every which way
Searching for the whole
Nothing resounds.
Poetry by Dominique Gerald Cimafranca | October 17, 2010
I am a bullet.
Small. Insignificant.
A speck in the air:
hardened mote of
tears from the rock,
molten from fire,
and drowned in water.
Poetry by Hannah Louise Enanoria | October 3, 2010
And the books will still be there on the shelves, detached souls,
That emerged once, drenched
As shining mangos under a tree after the rain,
And consumed, tasted , delicious fame
Despite defying seasons, crawling ants,
children stoning, the earth in motion.
“Even if” they said, “our pages are worn to shreds,
Shabby and brown, or a fly has been preserved
Between sheets, so much durable
than we are. Whose delicate heat
chills the heart and memory, scatters, expires.”
I imagine when I will be faced out
Replaced by audio, video books – nothing ensues,
no bereavements, no harm, it’ll still be television shows,
Make-ups, money, women, a moment with music.
still, the books will be there on the shelves, able-bodied,
ripe because of people, and also sunlight, crowning.
—-
Hannah Louise Enanoria is a 4th year AB Sociology student of Ateneo de Davao University.