Hold tight when we bump in the rocky nights,

And they will all forgive when you first cry.

Quietness falling not failing the skies

We will run with their bitters tongues,hold tight.

All my mothers will hum your lullaby.

We will not pass the saddest road and die,

Daddy will drive us home before his flight

And they will all forgive when you first cry.

Blinking stars beat and sing and so do I

Listen to your beats along with my heart,

All mothers will hum your lullaby.

I pray, He blesses; these fierce tears will dry

You’ll breathe in all the poems that I will write,

They will all forgive when you first cry.

Grip, tighter, for blackness will say goodbye,

You are my sweetest mistake that is right.

All my mothers will hum your lullaby,

And they will all forgive when you first cry.

Everything seems silent,

its just him

his calcu

and his dying pen,

papers

and

numbers

and

equations

seem so ordinary,

so monotonous

just sleep–

just sleep–

in the midst

of brain-wracking thoughts,

his emotions

ponder,

his rational mind

—just sleep

—just sleep

resistance

blocking

his tired

and sleepy mind,

a struggle

between

eyelids

to eyelids

his head weighed

too much of

vanishing mathematics

until all he can think

is his woman,

shrouded by a piece

of cloth

in his mind.

They say it is a mad woman’s quicksand

it swallows all it smells

every genital and

sagging breast and

silken legs

twisted fingernails and

cracked lips and

fetus

and

shrimps–

 I stepped out if its mouth

with my dancing feet and

laughing hips and

screaming thighs

egg yolk and

saliva

all over me–

Thereafter,

I sprout

into the slides of poetry

to re-write a woman’s body.

tilawi ang kapait

ipaduol imong ngabil sa akong kalingin

ug pasagdi-i ang aso niining baba.

Dali, guniti akong lawas

 sa tunga sa bugnaw na kabuntagon

aron muuga ang yamog sa nambuyas nga

bulak sa imong tutunlan.

am

drunk

with

coffee

too

much

of

it

that

I

even

forget

how

to

put

sugar

in

love

At the bottom of my cup

your memory lies-

I will not stir,

I will not anymore

–be sweetened.

is as peaceful as the stillness

of the night when there is no

bitter mint to be puffed.

They say its a mad woman’s quicksand
it swallows all it smells
every genitals and
sagging breasts and
silken legs and
twisted fingernails and
and cracking lips and
fetus
and
shrimps—

I stepped out of its mouth
with my dancing feet and
laughing hips and
screaming thighs
and
egg yolk and
saliva all over me—

There after,

I sprout
in the slides of poetry
to re-write a woman’s body.

just like delaying one’s to come,

barriers of stares

sarcastic giggles

as the rain falls and went back to—

somewhere up there?

up there?

up theirs,  

or maybe just behind  their torturous smiles

or—-

?

oweeness

He kissed her forehead, her eyebrows, the tip of her nose. His glasses were crooked and she reached up to straighten them. As she did, she smoothed his brow. Her eyes were shinning and she was smiling up at him. He put his hands on her back and he felt her slim body through her dress.

“Something’s different tonight,” she said.

Everything, he thought.

He felt the breeze in his hair, and heard it in the trees. Overhead, the stars were as bright as they were going to get close to town. The sky was wrapped in haze, a sheet of sheer silk, and the stars were orange globes.

“Dianne…” he whispered into her hair. “… I want us back.”

Her eyes lose its spark, “Even if I have him, it’s been always you, but—”, she cleared her throat as if she was into starvation and ate all the words she said. Her heart was slamming, standing barefoot on the toe of his shoes, reaching up to kiss his chin, the side of his face. He brought her mouth to hers and rocked her back and forth in the sultry night. Her cheeks shone in the starlight, and he knew they were wet with tears.

“ I wish you weren’t going,” he said. He held her tighter as if it could stop her from going away.

“In a way, so do I,” she said.

“How do wishes work?” he asked.

“What do you mean? she asked, she thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t.

“How?” he asked.

“You look up,” she said. Taking his hands, she raised it overhead. “You point”.

“Yeah?” he asked, scanning the heavens.

“And then you wish.”

He nodded. He closed his eyes but didn’t wish or think about anything. When he opened his eyes, she was still there.

“So far, so good,” he said. kissing the knuckles of her right hand, her left hand and then kissing her mouth.

She held a deep sigh and said, “I still want you to lead your band on my wedding John.” To hear you sing for the last time before I’d be forever gone with them.

“All for you, and for my godchild.” His pulse was throbbing and words raced through his mind.

They had kissed and held hands together and kissed again until her knees gave out, and she knew it was good that she was going away. They both needed him to stay here with the thought that wishes and reality needed new destiny to merge.