Have you ever tried writing a poem
nga wala ka kabalo asa padulong?
Like this ba.
Nahimoot ko samtang ga suwat ani.
There are fishes swimming on my mind,
a pool that is mine to operate.
Busa, wala ni goal. Walay bili.
Basta dle lang magkagubot ang rhyme,
everything will be fine.
By the way, love ko nimo?
Sometimes I think the universe
is orchestrating music
too cosmic for human ears.
Maybe we are meant to hear it
instead of clocking in and out,
working forty hours
under a system built by the devil.
Isn’t it strange
A thread connects us for a moment,
then cuts
after each transaction.
Imagine fate
as a brief handshake.
That thought made me smile
as I write this,
because I might just be wasting your time.
This is your one chance at goodbye.
You may go now.
This is my first time.
How about you?
Do you still dream?
O basta kay makaamgo lang
mahimayaong kalipay,
let the kaligutgot pass by?
Mao na na.
Surrender.
Surrender.
Surrender.
That is the content of my prayer.
I whisper it three times a day,
like a prescription for being human.
Balik ta. Sa poem. Dili kita.
Maybe this is written from boredom.
Tong bata pa ko, nadusmo ko
sige og dula og Chinese garter.
I was the “mother.”
A broken jaw taught me silence.
Pero when my nanay died,
I learned the world
has quieter ways of breaking people.
Ever since I met grief,
I’ve gathered more books than I can count
not to enjoy,
but to escape.
Some of them gather dust,
waiting for my attention,
like old loves I’ve muted online.
What’s your favorite literary device?
I don’t know a man
who’s ever asked me that question.
Kapait ning kinabuhi-a.
Need ba gyud nga kanawong pa ni Beast
usa magka-perfect fairytale ang poor mademoiselle?
What do I do with books?
I stare at them,
smell their leaf,
imagine the hands that once caressed it.
Stories intrigue
but what about the fingerprints
they carry through the years?
When it cuts deep,
that’s when I write
about what it did to me.
Pag di ko niya mapakahilak,
o di mumata akong kasuko,
ayaw na lang.
I share them with friends
willing to listen.
I tell them how love looks
when it refuses to die quietly.
Sometimes I think of Arundhati Roy,
and her hunger for metaphors,
how she turns ache into ecstasy.
Balik ta sa hinungdan sa poem.
Wala gihapon.
Josephine May Grace Famoso is a lifelong learner of literature. She teaches literature at the University of Southeastern Philippines.