King Me Down
The Jackhammer Song

it it it's
take take take-
king me down

en- en- en-
tearing me
now now now

in in in
my heart heart
gut gut gut

drum drum drum
down the beat
beating down

my ear ear
drum beat beat
down my ear

so in me
now that that
it is me

is it me
me it is
me is it

it it it's
take take take-
king me down

Mabuhayland

You are a country
the color of my skin.
They call you mother,
or father, or lover,
but I call you country.
I call you flesh,

and I've got this idea
- and I've got this idea
full in the stomach
like a punch - that you
were something that
came before I did, yes,

but also, that I ought
to work hard to push you
out as one gut-ripping,
blood-dripping giant
little child with the color
of everyone I've ever loved.

For a Healthy Constitution

Ate Glow, Go! Grow
wise with our years
and pick - for peace -
a deep blue dress,
royal and true.

Ate Glow, Grow. Go
shake the right hands,
shake the hands left-
over and then
make that good call.

Grow, Ate Glow. Go
give us PR.
Grow in the dark
mother-pearl teeth
for all our sakes.

Go, Ate Glow, Grow.
Up that ante,
raise them stakes high!
Then take us, take
us right down them.

Go Grow, Ate. Glow
red as hunger.
We're not just votes;
we can take you
down, count on it.

Sa Pambansang Karnabal

Sumisirko-sirko
ang bansa, alagad
ng krus na kawad
at lambat, Boy Tumbling
sa ere. At kober
ng midya ang kanyang
pagpanhik-panaog
sa haliging-hagdan.

Dantaon na ako
nanonood dito.
Hindi ko makuhang
pumalakpak. Bitin
sa ere ang lahat
ng aking daliri.

Lunes

Lunes. Pinag-iisipan ko na ang Lunes sapagkat gusto ko at kaya ko. May Biyernes at Sabado ng sandamakmak na trabaho at pagtatahi ng mga landas ng Los Banos, Diliman, V.Luna, at sari-saring bahagi ng Makati. Hindi ko inaasahang huminga ngunit nakakasigurado akong nasa Lunes ang aking tutok. Walang mangyayari, walang mangyayari, walang mangyayari, sasabihin sa akin ng Linggo. Ngunit hihintayin ko ang ibubulong sa akin ng Lunes.

Lunes. Anuman ang aking maririnig, alam na ng diyos ng Martes ang kanyang gagawin.

One at One Tepeyac and Other Dennises

A Saturday at One Tepeyac, a good view of Banahaw, where I learned (among many other things) that I'm going to write forever, that a particular yellow big bird considers me a big hairy elephant with cutting wisdom, and that oysters in onions will make my day. We celebrated the birthday of a 73-year old priest who had strength, disposition, and hair to belie the fact of his age. Genes, I figure, with nothing much else to go on. His mother will celebrate her hundredth within the year.

I also learned of a dead Dennis, a good man with a wife, two kids, and a ready smile. He recently got promoted to assistant manager at a bank and was in charge of counting the money, among other things. He was a cordial man, made the bank feel as much like home as possible, and played a good round of tennis. He died Thursday because of bacterial pneumonia. It was sudden, not much struggle, save for his family who must contend with the fact the he died because, unlike our readiness for viral pneumonia, we still had nothing against the bacterial strain. He would be a vegetable even if he survived, so they opted not to hook him into life support.

Dennis died Thursday last week, he was thirty-five, and the best guess was that he got the bacteria from the money he counted.

I learned that another Dennis lay in the same hospital because of the same strain. Last week too, his family faced a decision. They chose life support.

Gloria

Object of Revelations
Pray for us
Mother Most Apologetic
Pray for us
Child of the Dangerous Pattern
Pray for us
Champion of the Constitution.
Pray for us
Defender of the Nation and Its Laws
Pray for us
Commander-in-Chief
Pray for us
Upholder of Truth in all Its Manifestations
Pray for us
Reviler of the Dangerous Pattern
Pray for us
Mole above All
Pray for us
Word made Flesh
Pay for us