Burning in Davao

Poetry by | March 4, 2024

Bitter shade or none at all,
underneath the fiery ball,
I bite my teeth as I go outside,
praying to Christ I don’t burn
at the first touch of light.

Metal, cushion, all hot to the touch.
Like my coins as I count how much.
I wonder
how the driver has not melted away
in front of the glass.

I squint and see the metro-inferno
outside: the people walk as if it’s not a hell-hole.
How could one endure sunburn’s gash,
white light,
biting anyone in its path.

Then I remember
days of rain and cloud,
when I prayed it was
burning in Davao.

Benjamin Thursday R. Rosaupan is a student studying AB English in Ateneo de Davao University.

City Cloud

Poetry by | November 6, 2023

Plop, splodge, pump;
Water floods out,
Dark, blue, cold,
The city mutters out,
Man and Child and Woman abound,
All making the trip till sundown;
Walk, Step, Skip;
My sweat pours out.
Bulb, glow, streak;
Refracts the puddles around,
For it is raining,
In Davao’s downtown.


Benjamin Thursday R. Rosaupan is studying AB English at Ateneo de Davao University. He spent almost a decade of his life in Saudi Arabia. He had an interest in English at a very young age, which has continued to his adulthood. He is interested in art, music, and the pursuit of the Eternal Being.