Sefirot I

vi - Niyanig ang Laguna & Bicol ng lindol na na nasa ika-5 antas ang lakas.

ix - Kaugalian na ang pagsalubong ng 12 uri ng bilugang prutas sa bagong taon, hal: lanzones, tsesas, melong tagalog, tsiko, kalamansi, dalandan, ubas, mansanas, pakwan, peras, naranha, at melong kastila.

ii - Salvandorum paucitas, damnandorum multitudo

viii - Ang pagpaslang kay Bhutto.

v - Ayon kay Bruce Lee, hindi siya natatakot sa taong 1 beses nag-ensayo ng 10,000 uri ng sipa pero natatakot siya sa taong 10,000 nag-ensayo ng 1 uri ng sipa.

iii - Nasa kanyang tinig ang antok.

iv - Ayon sa Sefer Yezirah ng ika-6 na dantaon, binuo ng YHWH ang daigdig sa pamamagitan ng 32 landas tungo sa karunungan.

i - Mas malaki ang mata ng ostrich kesa utak nito.

vii - P982 kada kilo ang hamon.

A Likely Story

A former friend had this air about him. As if he invented atheism. I would have told him about a couple of atheists I knew who had much fuller voices, but back then I didn't want him to feel doggone down. See, whenever he's doggone down, he realizes that he's not the center of the world and begins to ask endlessly about my opinion, even take them to task. So, no. He was better off thinking himself the very center. Less irritable that way. You see, there was this one time when he was down, and (as authentic as puppies go) he said, "I'm a rebel. Everybody's supposed to love a rebel, right?"

It was too long ago, so I don't recall if this was a beer-inspired answer: "Don't ask for love, man. It's just not fair." But it was an honest answer, and my occasional honesty ranks number three in my list of why I lose friends. Number four is their silence takes up too much space. Number two is my all-time favorite simile: like I care.

Chalk It Up

My father celebrated his 61st birthday, December 23. I've yet to get him a present. I remember telling him about four years ago that his birthday was earmarked by those pioneers of the calendar, the Mayans. They called their calendar the Tzolkin. It's so accurate as ancient calendars go, and after all these centuries it's still only off by a few odd seconds. According to the Mayans, the world ends with a cataclysm on December 23, 2012. That would be Dad's 65th.

I'm going to buy him a pair of pants and wish him a long life.

Molar revolution

The dentist called the wisdom tooth he extracted "exotic." Made me feel special. Like I'm supposed to do a dirty dance on the chair or something.

That was a month ago. Last week, he got the other wisdom tooth and said nothing.

But he got my cell number from the records. Texted me once just to prove it. I saved his number and wrote it on the cardboard spine of my calendar.

Maybe he's still looking at the tooth, a thing as nonfunctional sitting before his eyes as it was in my mouth, ranked along with Cadmus and the gums. It's probably something in his pocket right now, in its small plastic tube. A tube transparent enough for his eyes whenever he's commuting and in a jam. Or when he's in between patients or reports or chapters of that favorite book of his that bears infinite rereading. Maybe every night he takes a look, after dinner, before he goes to sleep.

So for me, every night it's tossing and turning. Every morning, for six days now, it's my cell phone alarm and zero messages.

Found Object

Poem published at Philippine Graphic, the November 5 issue.

maaaring di palaging ganito; kaya ko sinasabi

(e.e. cummings
aking salin)

maaaring di palaging ganito; kaya ko sinasabi
na kung ang ‘yong mga labi, na aking inibig, ay dadampi
sa iba, at kung ang ‘yong malalakas na daliri’y kakapit
sa kanyang puso, parang akin sa di nalalayong panahon,
at kung hihimlay sa mukha ng iba ang tamis ng ‘yong buhok
sa katahimikang wangis nitong alam ko, o sa katulad
na dakilang salitang kumikiwal, kayraming sinasatsat,
nakatayong walang laban sa tapat ng napipintong diwa.

kung magkakaganito; ang sabi ko kung magkakaganito–
ikaw ng aking puso, magparating ng kaunting pasabi,
nang matungo ko s’ya, at mahawakan ang kanyang mga kamay,
at sabihing, Tanggapin mo lahat ng aking kaligayahan.
At saka ako lilingon, at maririnig ang isang ibon
humuhuni sa sukdulang layo ng mga nawalang lupa.

Enfant Terrible

It led a siege in my dreams. The bone giant. I had been training the folks of Quisao to protect their homes.(3) The giant rained stones on us so we had weave our way to the army. Our first wave was levelled.(8) I shifted stategies and instead of rallying a second wave, I decided to leave the villagers to man the defenses against the army. I had to prevent the giant from rejoining its horde. I ran, bouncing from one spike to the other.(14) The giant regained its stature and spat at me. "Just one? What is this an insult? Then I allow me to throw you a pebble. I evaded that but he showered me with stones. I withstood them somehow, gained his back, and severed the leash that held its body together. So it toppled. And the head seemed to me a nipa hut. The very first.(18) It was not much bigger than a dog house. I intended it as a gift to my toddler. I entered its mouth to inspect if it remained a threat. When I was sure it was safe, I motioned for my son to take it. Come, you can carry it, I told him. So my son did. We walked the grove of Los Banos, right along the red tapsilog place and the convenience store and the big chicken place. The people greeted us. But my ears belonged to my boy, with his happy nipa burden, bent and exclaiming all the way: I am a turtle. See? I am a turtle. Mga sipi: 3—A baranggay of Pililla, Rizal. The birthplace of my parents. The patron saint is San Diego de Alcala and, in fact, before Quisao was reduced to the biggest baranggay of Pililla, it was itself a town called Bayan ng San Diego. 8—Although my memory of this episode was choppy (or it was a choppy dream sequence to begin with and no lucidity would be able to retrieve what never existed in this subtle realm), the first wave was destroyed more or less in the following manner. We had successfully separated the leader from his horde. Yet the leader was only playing along, using our strategy against us to create a ruse. I had no way of knowing if my wave was driving the giant away or being lured by it. The giant rolled, shrinking into itself, until it was a rock. Then it stopped. When the wave had gathered to break it's shell open, bone spikes rose from the ground, impaling every villager groin to brain. It was a sky of white and red spikes. 14—This seemed the most clever way to get to the monster alive. I was confident of heroic success. 18—Yes. I was aware of the object sprouting from legend during the dream.