true love

beware of true love
her kiss will turn you
into a princess

trust me, it’s not
a good time to be a princess

the tiara digs
into the scalp
it glitters too much
in the sun, in the crowd

with the width of the heavy dress
it's impossible to board
jeepneys or buses
or habal habals

its frilly hems tangle
with sewer covers, too

with the long silk gloves
you can’t eat lechon
and puso with bare hands
but at least you save the world a little
by declining to use
the plastic ones

the heels, don’t get me
started on the heels

the corset, gods…

anyone, please
point me towards fake love
i need fake love’s kiss
to turn me back to my old
middle-aged man self

please



2024.jul.17

pain killer

radio silence on the other end
we kept it that way, content with that way,
and now it is for forever.

my last grandparent departed today
i cannot pray
i have long renounced religion.

i have no regrets
i believe life had rolled as intended
i believe in death
the great pain killer


2023.apr.09

when unfed i curl up and pretend i am Desolation

the fickle sky is Nemesis
whenever I am the avatar of laundry.
i can be hungry for some sun,

i can want tufts of clouds to stash away,
to cram away, into the mouth…
but without a limb to reach that high

and with all the dampness in the world to dry
and with nothing to match my desire
i am without anything to wear for tomorrow


2023.mar.22

z&s: pub battle

zack and syl
with no drop spilled
they chugged some ale from sewers.

zack broke down
and syl got crowned
the queen of bumbling boozers.



2022.jun.14

komiserate

i know how you feel, i do,
i have walked the miles in your shoes.

stillborn smiles stalled behind the lips
paroled in a thousand years but long have sailed the ships.

my 'i love yous' blurred into i, deserts between, and you
my confession sold as terror or ire - neither the truth

the eons stretched on as long as your lashes
my confession aged - i wish as wine, but no - as ashes.



2022.may.20

shade

unlike his brother who succumbed
to post-cancer surgery pain and implications,
the old dog managed to reach the end:
a full, long, - and i wager - happy, life.
he was chilling in the shade
when i went out for errands that Sunday morning,
he was chilling in the shade
when i came back late for lunch.
he passed quietly a little after that late lunch.
we planted this grandpa in the backyard.
perhaps in a different world
a dog tree will grow from his grave
from which we'd be picking puppies when in season.
i sense eyebrows raise at my musings.
i'm sorry, it was just...
it was a scorching early Sunday afternoon
out of the shade.



2022.apr.05

the distant present (halloween for the decades)

somewhere, the true world clock
takes back time by another second.
some time ago, the earth began
to rotate backwards.
revolve backwards.

somewhere over middle eastern sands
someone decides to poke america.
some american missiles fly over.
2001 war leftovers?

somewhere, the world rebuilds
another border. around my city,
every other street corner
puts up a barrier.

and some time soon, a foreign songbird
singing north from here, will entice me
to add more to my music CDs
oh these 2020s
dressed up like 2000s

it must be halloween for the decades



2021.feb.28 (or it could be some time 2001)