Our Cow, Red

Nonfiction by | March 15, 2009

I cannot recall how our cow was called “Red”. Maybe it was because of his color. Red was really a bull, but I prefer to call him a “cow”. At the time Red was acquired I was still an infant. My vague memory of Red was at three, close to the concluding years of World War II.

There were trees and bushes around the clearing in the forest of Cotabato. The sun was bright and warm. Red was lying down on the grass under the shade of a tree. He had horns (like a Texas longhorn) so he must have been a bull, but I prefer to remember him as a cow. My older sister Norma, was standing on his head, holding on to a tree branch, while she picked fruits. A dog napped near the cow’s belly.

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Taong Bato

Fiction by | March 15, 2009

Alas nuebe na nang gabi nun. Bigla akong hinila ng magaling kong kaklase dun sa may rebulto na tila sinasamba ng lahat na mga estudyante. Nagtipon-tipon sila, tayo. Imbes na iparada ang mga parol para sa selebrasyon ng kapaskuhan, hayun ang lahat, may dala-dalang plakard. May itim na may puting tinta, at puti na may tintang itim at pula. May nagsasalita sa gitna. Daan-daang mag-aaral ang nandun pero walang mikropono. Tahimik ang lahat. Nakikinig. Nakikiisa. Buo ang atensyong ibinibigay sa sinumang nagsasalita.

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Bukambibig: Salita't Sayaw

Events by | March 9, 2009


National Commission on Culture and the Arts, Davao Writers Guild, UP Mindanao Dance Ensemble, and the Ateneo de Davao University Humanities Division present: Bukambibig: Salita’t Sayaw, a performance of poetry and dance. Bukambibig features the works of Ricky de Ungria, Tita Lacambra Ayala, Macario Tiu, Aida Rivera Ford, Jhoanna Cruz, and Dom Cimafranca, as performed by the UP Mindanao Dance Ensemble.

The performance takes place on March 13 (Friday), 5:00PM to 7:00PM at the 5th Floor, Finster Hall of Ateneo de Davao University. If you wish to attend the event, please post your name as a comment by Thursday, or visit our Facebook event page.

Sa Pet Shop

Poetry by | March 9, 2009

Anak,
Hindi tayo laging may pagkakataong ganito
Kaya kailangang pagbutihin natin
Ang pagpiling ito.

Di tayo dapat kukuha ng matakaw
Sapagkat baka sa kanyang kahayukan
Pagkain natin mismo’y kanyang lantakan.

Sa kawag ng buntot, di dapat padala
Pagkat baka sa husay nyang makisama
Magnanakaw, sa ‘ting bahay makitira.

Hindi rin tamang pilii’y puro porma
Pagkat baka pati mismong suot nati’y
Kuning pampakintab ng balahibo nya.

Di rin uubra ang napakatalino
Pagkat dahil sa di magkaintindihan
Pamumuhay nati’y lalong magkagulo.

Anak,
Mahirap talaga ang gawaing ito
Kaya kailangang pagsanibin natin
Karanasan ko’t silakbo mo.

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Blue Birds of Happiness

Poetry by | March 9, 2009

(after TALA)

Coming back
out from abyss, I am closer
than I have ever been

to be suspended in the air for so long
falling

at the same time not
Shattering is a dream
to break into many pieces
and disperse like steam
off something very, very cold
on a sticky sunny day.

The cold agony
is past comfort
a mother’s embrace that is far away

How could I have known that happiness came in a cage?

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Encounters

Events, Fiction by | March 4, 2009

Beyond the frames of the glass windows of Davao Medical Center was the cold hard rain. I glanced at the wall clock: 3:05. Time for endorsement call; but I could not free myself from lingering thoughts and the sound of a familiar name. The ceiling fan was not working again. Sweat trickled down my forehead down to my nose and lips; some droplets on my neck glided towards my nape. I felt sweat from my chin trickle down to my throat onto the sides of my breasts and, after finding the main freeway, explore my navel: I had already bathed.

The sharp blend of odors in the Nurses’ station was shaking my consciousness: the scent of oranges, a nearby diabetic’s necrotic foot, an open bottle of rubbing alcohol, the smell of fresh blood expelled from a womb contracting from the neighboring Delivery Room, and spilled urine on the floor from a patient’s urobag. It was exhausting.

Or, perhaps, it was creating a different kind of delusion.

The name?

What’s the name again? The diagnosis?

“Divinagracia, Maria Ana.”

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