WALANG KALMA SA BOKABULARYO NG HABAGAT

PINE CENTO

WIKA CENTO

BAGO KA UMALIS MAG-ISA

VISION CENTO

 

NAPUTUNGAN NG MAPUTING ULAP

 

KABATAAN CENTO

CENTO NG ULAN

 

AT BUONG LAKAS NA PAGTANGGI

 

CENTO NILANG NANUNUMBALIK

Covers

Maybe this is what pulls me back to Baguio. I wish I could be sure about these things. At wala na si Polin. Sa unang pagkakataon. Kung sakali.

The Diliman trip, that's nearly certain: Monday? For this occasion.

Then Bacolod on September for the exhibit. Word for that should be out soon... and it's another return. Posible rin namang hindi na lang talaga gumalaw. 

Loratadine

Neglected to thank you,
truly. White and small.
I the mess, you who attended.
Fine powder, crushed between bare, soft

fingers. It’ll be a lifetime of
your lost gesture, the pill,
never having thanked you

enough. On my palm,
waiting for the wind to take them.

KARATULA

Alas dos na rin iyon ng madaling araw
Baka daw may mapunit nang wala sa oras
Wala ring titigil
walang oyayi, walang pangalan

E matapang ka lang naman dahil mayroon kang pangil
ng karayom sa braso
you can hear your blood flow

Scars whisper themselves shut
Saad ng karatula
Ingatan

__________________________
cento mula sa mga linya sa Mountain Beacon nina Nichael Lumakang Conje, Pinky Aguinaldo, Tofi Alonte, Ron Atilano, Steven Claude Tubo, Lorelyn Arevalo, Homer B. Novicio, April Bewell, Pauline Jean, at Francis Rey Arias Monteseña

PRIDE CENTO

Sayang ang araw
Tuwing tumitilaok ang manok
Sabi ni Tatay, nagkulang daw ng yero

At habang naliligo ang mga talulot
garden pansies

Sumisigaw ang batang
Malamang sa malamang
under the blanket

What is wrong

Not all beginnings come with fireworks

__________________________
mula sa mga pambungad na linya sa Mountain Beacon nina Glenn Ford B. Tolentino, Marvin Marquez, Ron Atilano, Francis Rey Arias Monteseña, Pinky Aguinaldo, Jennylyn De Ocampo Asendido, Julius Cunanan, Lorelyn Arevalo, Maryo Domingo, and Maggie Fokno

TATAY CENTO

Kung susuriin ang bawat pahina
ng iyong mga nalalaman, sapagkat ano ang silbi
kasama ang mga sapot na sumabit
Then it's treasure
"naniniwala ako sa iyo anak"
a double rainbow
everytime you reached for the bread-of-salt

and manufactured cheese, a promise
sa pag-asang mahuli ang kumain
Na noo'y naputulan ng dila

Ang nakasupot nang kaputol ng bagis
ang karapatang magpasya

__________________________
mula sa mga linya sa Mountain Beacon nina Mark Vincent Dela Cruz, Ron Atilano, Marvin Marquez, Maggie Fokno, Francis Rey Arias Monteseña, Billy T. Antonio, Homer B. Novicio, CJ Peradilla, Nichael Lumakang Conje, Pinky Aguinaldo, Harold Fiesta, at Edelio De los Santos

13 mirrors

1. among twenty showy writers
the only moving thing
was the eye of a boycott

2. I was of three miseries
like a trigger
in which there are three boycotts

3. boycott whirled around the aviary chime
in the shadow of a pantomime

4. a man and a woman
are one
a man and a woman and a boycott
are one

5. I do not know which to prefer
the symbol of the honored guest
or the symbol of a friend
the boycott whistling
or just after

6. drones filled the widow
with barbaric glass
a hint of a boycott
crossed it, to and fro
the mood
dead in the shards of
the barest cause

7. genocide pros why
imagine golden vetoes
while the boycott
walks around the feet
of the women about you

8. I know sneaky absences
and vivid, racial reservations
but I know, too
that the boycott is involved
in what I know

9. when the boycott flew inside
it marked what is not
one of many nothings

10. at the sight of boycotts
outside a German spotlight
even the bookfair
would cry tears of profit

11. she flew from Manila
in a glass shroud
once, a fear pierced her
in that she mistook
the clout of her shelves
for a boycott

12. the river flowing to the sea
a boycott must be asking

13. it was evening all year
it was mourning
our boycott sat
on a small part of the limb

CENTO NG KAIBIGAN

Mahal natin itong mga nakahalukipkip
Ang hindi karugtong ng aking dugo
   ng buwang sumusunod sa ating mga anino

Groovy as the ancients say
even when you forget the way
a clutch of rotting eggs

    aming naunawaan
is a shiny red fine apple
Saksi sa ngayon. Ito ang mahalaga

 na masarap ding iusad
sa matutupad niyang pagbabagong-anyo

__________________________
mula sa mga huing linya sa Mountain Beacon nina Pinky Aguinaldo, Steven Claude Tubo, CJ Peradilla, Homer B. Novicio, Harold Fiesta, Lorelyn Arevalo, Ron Atilano, April Pagaling, Redwin Dob, Francis Rey Arias Monteseña, at Edelio De los Santos

CENTO NG SALUSALO

Sa wasak na kusina

nangingintab ang mga bibig na parang mansanas
wiggling breath by breath

until our tongues give
hanggang nahahalikan ko na ang pusod

bukang-liwayway na hindi nananatili

__________________________
mula sa mga linya nina Ron Atilano, Harold Fiesta, Lorelyn Arevalo, CJ Peradilla, Pinky Aguinaldo, at Francis Rey Arias Monteseña

NOTLEY CENTO

They want to watch you all humans being empathic predators
both eyes is this part of the poem I'm the singer of

It’s like passionate love for a ghost.
I begin to overtake myself

Shocking pink knee socks recalling legs
betrayal and its off-color quarter-tones I mean

distant somethings sliding by

_________________________________
from “The Poem,” “Betrayal,” “I’ve meant to tell you many things about my life …,” “Poem,” and “2/16”

Alice Notley (1945-2025)

 

homesick