Manila New Year Wishes.

Up near the creek shanties appear like raw mushrooms
Waiting to be plucked,
As stray dogs patrol the nearby area
Like dingo in Australian outbacks,
Pedicabs roar as backride passengers' feet
Dangle dangerously within passing cars' reach,
And "bodol bodol" gangs canvass houses
As masters of the mansion homes toil in offices at noon.

Congressmen take naps even while at sessions,
Lady senators babble at their reproductive health,
City mayors etch their names in park pots and overpass,
While Barangay heads photoshop their faces onto ambulance cars.

Soap stars sing and singers act,
Street kids gangnam their way into you tube fame,
Twelve year olds tweet while mom and dad sleep,
Sixteen year olds drown at Starbucks shops,
As Nokia and Iphone snatch at working man's paycheck.

Ivory Coast, China and Israel
Kenya and Palestine,
Egypt and Jordan,
Connecticut neighbourhood,
Iran and Iraq
Fighting erupts even at New Year.

Change should be on the way,
People must shout their dismay,
Kids and grown ups never should stray
In their focus to destroy the evil days.

An Anonymous Thanksgiving

 By Gener

The boy picked up a pebble and threw it far into the water
And waited for the ripple to appear,
In his young mind the circles seem like a fairway's dizzying ride
On a fourth of July or Canada Day.

Then he stood up and sailed through the wood's thorny trees

Stopped by and picked a twig
Examined it and made a walking cane
Or is it a stick to ward off the snakes

In his jolly he forgot about the errand to make
While his mother waited at the shack they shared
Pounding the flour and kneading for a bread
The supp'er they'd partake
As in the Lord's last ever day.

"My father'd be gone," the boy uttered beneath breath
And so soon in my youth he'd never be understood,
For the things I heard 'bout him
He was a fine lad gone mad.

In all his twelve years the boy leaped for faith
For a father he'd hardly known,
Inside a cell the old man lived
And will die alone in self.

As the Mother saw the son she smiled and wiped a tear
Her bread was fast rising and the corn soup a'boil,
Her turkey smells a jewel, her potatoes just as well,
The son and father would have laughed
As they all shared Thanksgiving before.

Beware the Ides.

 by Gener

You never saw the baby's smile
Nor clasped her hand nor stroked her hair,
In your ghastly gown you clung a dream
And nightmares in your eves to come.

The serpent tempted and grinned a while
While you licked the tongue that twirled,
But you bit the hand that nurtured you then
And romped the Eden of despair.

"My baby where are you?" alas you woe,
"Are you lost forever," and you query why?
And in your sane moments you saw a child
And it was you in your mother's arms.

You espy the pride in the mirror once,
But thought God had created it,
You bathed in men's starry eyes
And forgot about your elders' misty love.

Your faith has died
But should you go?
Beware then the Ides that bade doom,
In your countenance you thought the Lord has saved,
But what a fool
God sayeth you have been weighed. 

Of serpents thy lie.

 By Gener.

Of serpents and scorpions lay

Thy soul thee trade for fear,

In his carnal the belly bloomed

The sweat could rise and fall.

In time thy face shall fail the test

Of grace and youth and fun,

And in thy lone and self abide

A yen for a forgot'en will arrive.

Thou child,  a wife, a devil's snare

Shall look thyself in eye,

And what thee see could crush thy smile

For nowhere thou now belong.

In death thou never will be mourned

In life thou been forgotten all,

In birth thou had been blessed by God

Yet thou slapped the hands that cared.

The full force of life beckons thy kind

There'd be ups and downs to sail,

The wind can wipe thy ilk and tribe

The sun can sear thy ugly throat.

Beware the wrath of yin and yang

The tide of near and far,

The fire will gulp thy pride and sloth

And leave thy ashes as thou been found.

Sushi.

I want my sushi, and I want it now,
Dip or no dip
Dip it in my mouth,
Swirl it between my chopsticks
Grab it in my hands,
Chomp down with miso
Savour the pearly roe.

Sushi, sashimi
Tempura, teriyaki
Udon, calamari
Iwashi y kani
Ebi, ika, kaki
Shitake and moyashi
A bowl of sake to equal my wasabe.

The Japan tsunami got us down on our knees,
The nuclear reactors chilled our senses new,
The returning OFWs lessened the nation's crew,
The Philippine remittances dipped
Way way below.

My grandpa was branded pro-Jap
In last WW II,
When all he did was befriend a Nip
Years before the conflict whipped,
He was tortured, left for dead
Yet he regained his spirit and pride,
He lobbied for a school in our place
Now he lay in a simple man's grave.

I once had a classmate
He was half Jap and half Pinoy,
He was second in class
He was short in height,
He towered with humour
He glanced at pretty girls,
He hailed from Okinawa
Now he lives in Guam.

I used to drive a Volks, an Escort
And an Isuzu,
I bought a Voyager
And now wheel a Montero,
I pine for a Rover and also a Pathfinder,
In between my sushis
I dream,
That's all I'd been.

The Trip to Perdition

A man's life is peppered with spices and scents, and odours and ills.

He chooses which to inhale, carefully; with mind and sometimes, with spirit.  

He triumphs, he fails.

He stares, he blinks.

He remembers, he loses it.

He dwells on imageries, he acts on impulse.

He stays, he quits.

He prays pardon, he turns back again.

He aches, he moans.

He tells, I go to hell. 

It's a small world.

ABOVE, It's a Small World attraction at Disneyland, California, taken with a Canon A580.

I kiss, you kiss
But the spell is not broken,
It's in me
The poison stays potent
in the stomach, in the heart
In the brain it creates a seizure.

I laugh, you laugh
But the dryness in the mouth
signals unfulfilled drink of lust
Be it in a jug, a keg, a barrel
I see the shadow
Not in the mirror but in your eyes.

Wish me a star, a moon
A shooting gallery of endless creatures of universe
My princess of day and night,
In you I dwell
as you should too
For others lie and bequeath promises of gold
That turn into leaping pests of the earth.

Un Moment.

By Anonymous.

Luckily I was seated

or I could have fainted,

Your sight was too excellent,

Your smile, 'tho stilted

still had me captivated,

Your eyes were a slit

that's when you were laughing

so hard,

Your mouth was caressing as 

you talked in miles, 

You cuddled a baby so lovingly

the thought you hated babies didn't play out,

The hands, 'tho I was afar

could've made me mad,

I heard the Glee chorus in mind

while you sipped the noodle in air,

I whistled Air Supply

as you stood and sat in rhyme,

I did a David Letterman laugh

as you passed my table by,

Then I saw Epponine cry

as you walked finally into the crowd.

Knots.

Like twisted intestines.

Like after having a big, unforbidden meal.

After running and panting in the name of fitness.

As one walks the lanes and highways of memories.

Do you get this God-forsaken don't get no satisfaction feeling.

Thanks, Rolling Stones, that's the song you left us deniers, hippies, revolutionaries, the Gen X'ers and digital babies.  It spans decades, just like your band members.

Look how and what people have become?

From playful to placid to platitudinous?

It reeks of guilt, of self inquisition, of juvenile posturings.

Us can be curled, bound, twisted, unraveling, unforeseen future and decayed past.

No moons, no sun.

This One's For You.

AND I LOVE YOU SO

Sung by Perry Como

And I love you so
The people ask me how
How I've lived 'til now
I tell them I don't know

I guess they understand
How lonely life has been
But life began again
The day you took my hand

And yes I know, how lonely life can be
The shadows follow me 
And the night won't set me free
But I don't let the evening get me down
Now that you're around me

And you love me too
Your thoughts are just for me
You set my spirit free
I'm happy that you do

The book of life is brief
And once a page is read
All but life is dead
That is my belief

And yes I know, how lonely life can be
The shadows follow me 
And the night won't set me free
But I don't let the evening get me down
Now that you're around me

My oldest sister and brother in law are in town for a series of medical missions to different parts of the country. They're with several groups of Fil-Am doctors from Chicago and Seatlle.

And when siblings get together, a natural topic of conversation are those days long gone and years of growing up.  Sis was hilarious when she related to us about young crushes and suitors; how one guy used to send her "song hits" with pages marked to indicate specific songs dedicated to her.

For those not in the know, "song hits" were small booklets, the size of today's TV Guide,  containing lyrics of popular songs.  These were sold in magazine stands, and were popular with teens.  Filipinos even in ancient times already loved to sing; a Filipino invented "karaoke," remember?

I remember some radio shows back then with "dedication portions."  Listeners would call in and ask the DJ to play a particular song and dedicate it to his/her boy/girlfriend or spouse. 

This strategy of dedicating a love song to a love interest to gain her/his attention dates back to the Pinoy old custom of "harana."  In a harana, a boy summons his courage, his own voice or friends to declare his love for a girl through songs.

So on one not so late evening, the lover would don his best attire (barong tagalog or kamiset' chino) and pluck his guitar and sing "Maalala Mo Kaya or Bakya Mo Neneng" in front of the girl's house.  I suppose the boy would choose a particular night when the "moon"  would be full and shining brightly, especially if he lived in a town with no electricity yet. 

The only harana I witnessed personally (most were seen in old Tagalog movies), was the one performed by my now uncle in law Tio Rocky when he was courting my Tia Sol.  Tio Rocky actually commissioned another uncle in law, Tio Peping, to sing for him. It was a scene straight out of a Rogelio De La Rosa-Carmen Rosales movie. And this one, I guess, was back in the early 60's and took place in Manila. 

Nowadays, lovers exchange and share play lists.  

Songs are powerful tools to express one's feelings and emotions.  But poetry is the precursor of songs. Lovers proclaim their deep seated love and passion through emotion-filled lines, octaves,haiku.

For the non-poets, it would be through popular songs.  "This one's for you," a man or a woman would say.

I'd take the cab.

The train leaves the station 

And the familiar whistle stop bellows somewhere,

"Your stop, Sir," the porter reminds you,

And you step out staggering in the cold morning December of your life.

You look back as the train pulls away

Now your heart starts to pound,

Gets heavier as the tail of the Metro curves around

And you see no more,

Oh, just the light as it blinks for the next stop.

Damn heart,

So fickle, so true, so warm, so lazy,

Were there yesterdays just one like yesterday

When you could have tended to the bleeding

With a gauze and scissor and some stitches here and there?

Yet, you chose to turn on the TV and waited for the aspirin

To soothe, to smoothen the platelets,

Then you'd go back to being you and you being you

As more ibuprofen and acetaminophen blur the line between pain and no pain,

Where did your life simply go?

Damn soul,

You're still now, how about tomorrow?

When scenes play out, die out,

You can never say go because there's no way to go

But wait for the train to show up

At the appointed hour.

No sir,  I'd skip the train,

And wait for the cab as it speeds down the highway,

Or take a bus, or even the plane,

Or stay at home on a busy day,

And I'd say when I'd taste the snow, 

Or inhale the carbon from the flying jeep off a Manila road.

I'll climb the mountain. I'll cross the sea.

I'll climb the mountain
I'll cross the sea,
Everything I'll do just to get away
Away, away,
Away.

The rough sail looks exciting
In the 4 degree weather, even.
The snails are buried in the sand
The castles doomed, too.

The horizon in the East is gloomy
There are murders there,
The pols are evil
The poor are poorer.

I'll climb the mountain
I'll cross the sea,
I'll trade my last clothing
I'll burn my last candle.

I'll zoom to the top
and race with the wind
And get to be there
In my dream, somewhere.

Autumn Works.

I'll be tumbling down and forth
In the piled leaves of autumn,
In the backyard lot

At night,

Like 'am a child of five.

I'll be howling at the dogs
And squinting at the cats
Be chasing the squirrels
And swearin' at the park.

I'm descending into childhood
In this quick, quick, quick step
My breath out of sync

My giggles couldn't stop.

I'm stupidly happy
I'm crazily mad
I've no explaining to do
I'm just out of my mind.

Blame it on the autumn

This cascading into bottom

Blame it on somethin'

Maybe the wild rum or beer

I'm just crazily a- glee

No matter what matters now

I'm ready to be

No matter what it'll be.

Gone Days.

Can't bring back the days gone,

Wasted.

Can't capture the euphoria which shaped

Thousands of miles behind,

Blasted zero to perfection

By an unyielding Baroness

Of laughter.

Gone days,

Unserved

Unnoticed

Unfulfilled

Under appreciated

Under the weather.

What do we do with days ahead, then

Shall we waste them, incinerate to oblivion?

Shall we take each one, live them,

File them

Into memorable memories?

And re-live when we get older.

Beloved.

by Gener

Heartache,
I feel you deep
As I did yesterday,
Sorrow,
I swim in your tears and
Get blinded,
Yearning,
I crawl in the bosom of your embrace,
Beloved,
I mourn the demise of your words,
So tell now,
How to bind this heart to its death
If not,
Tell me the untold soul of your love.

Wondering.

The lips of summer stammer in the grass,
Parched in heat,
Seared by passion,
And await the drizzle to cool the skin,
Bemoan a sigh
To touch the ground hearing heart’s thunder.

The eyes behold the farthest star,
Blinking as the bodies soar
To celestial heights,
Wond’ring, gazing
Into the Universe’s unfathomable depths,
‘Till tears cascade in awe
And fear for thy spell.

The soul leaps from its skel’ton
Of cold ribs and gelly blood,
Screams at the chain of veins that bars
Its breathing,
Freedom, freedom…
Love, love…
I am,
You are,
We should be.

The mind awaits the twin-ning of reasons,
Union in spirit,
Oneness in beings,
Harmony in dance,
Cadence in steps,
Blurring of bitterness,
Joy in our fate,
Bliss in the twists and turns of your minds.

Where art thou Sunflowers?

by Gener

Around the bend in Oglebay

I drove years and years ago,

To deposit the boys in a boarding school, such a place near Ohio,

Then I got into a plane, slipped away in a hurry

Boasted 'was in Big Apple's neigbour

In many years before.

Whence I moved to Toronto

On a red Isuzu,

The border patrol looked at my visa

And said you, there go,

I drove past the line, yelled on top of my lung

Here, I am past Buffalo

'Thee dream just finally came true.

Why, here, just now

I'm 'bout to fly again in 'morrow,

'Am taking a Northwest jumbo

my body's got used to,

Tho' still sick to the stomach I must

bid an adieu,

My momma waits for me

she's sick,

Momma is, you know.

Must this fellow be a huge clueless

In a scheme he 'tempts to,

Sleepless, directionless

how can it be so,

So?

'Fortnight he told himself, alas

Surely I must go,

To recite a lovely song

In commune with divin'in pro.

But the wind changed its course 'ruptly

and hit like a hurricane,

On this eve of my sail

I hope to surmount 'tis will,

My compass has jammed ill

My map's a bit wet

My boat's stuck in the mud

Better be back on a plane.

Lead 'ee to a point, where I go,

In the mountain

Or train depot?

Across a tall building, in a mall,

In layers of condo?

Under a bridge,

In a meadow?

Surely gotta know -

Could it be below a pass?

Beneath a hospital, perhaps

Along a racetrack,

Within hotels?

Past a church, near a bank

Beyond the north or the south,

In the hills or the mound?

Ain't it funny,

Oh no!

My clock runneth low.

Simply mind the woes I wrote

Which received 'ee promise of gold,

Take the words which kept aflowin'

And got the future clearer,

The omen 'ee once told

Thine be pursued with an amen,

The passion of 'mee poems

Shall be lived in soul of 'thee each other.

Tale of Irony.

About six months or so ago, I discovered the pleasure of reading. I was not looking, I just stumbled upon a beautiful book and I started gazing, then seriously taking upon the new found love.

I became a different person. Inside me there became an excited being, ready to read more. I was slow, I was choosy. But I started to dream again - to live once more, as the book(s) became alive in my mind.

But I was scared. Reading was not my passion nor I profess to being highly literate in the ways of writers and lovers of great literature. An ordinary person, I just wanted to enjoy, to discover new words and minds and merge them into my own world. I was not being pretentious, and saying, I am a great reader or lover of literature.

But, I found another happiness, at last. Could it go on? I sure wish it would.

As reading is new in my heart, poetry is something I've always loved.

THE ROAD TO A HEART
by Gener












They say it is laden with ice, your heart
Because it doesn't bleed,
But it pumps wild at prose and lit
Even bloats at the sight of knightly tales
Or future Gods.

How can one reach a bosom tool of life
Encrusted in diamond and gold?
Or weaken the veins that make them bold,
Warmth the red cells and make them drip
Bit by bit,
Until they coalesce into a new fruit of love?

It is paved with glory and aches, the road to a Lady's heart,
The trenches and spikes you've erected
Are high,
The moats and bridges
And guards carefully laid,
While you gaze from your castle's tower
A demeaning smile
In your lips.

Murmurs of Rage.

by Gener

ک
One day
At dusk I'd tell my soul
To stop murmuring sounds yet unheard
At dawn,
The following day is but seconds away
But only few can be asked in. 

ک
It is not a secret but a rite

A robed garment of ancient past,

A shadow fierce in delight,

A 'cantation lispy in the mouth,
A soldier's tip toed walk
- at a traitor's back,
A moaned shriek
- out a widow's throat,
A breaker's splash against a rock,
A Goddess' thunder whispered in mock.

 ک
 Love
Anger
Scorn
Defiance
Hate
In full moons, crescents and quarters,
In high and low seas,
In changing seasons,
Past, present, future.

CORNER OF NOWHERE

Before you turn into the corner of nowhere
Just glance back
- into the recesses you'd leave
Linger a moment your eyes
- into the paper haven't yet read
Touch the tip of the the unforseen photograph
- lying at the edge of your mind
Hold your breath at the murmur
of love I whispered before.

It's easy for you to go
So easy to scratch the stains left on the book
For never was the thought so deep
as I gave
It's easy to wipe clean the mess on the glass door
For you never saw the shadow when it was there.

I took a long look at the hills we should have climbed
Breathed the sea breeze we both could have drank
Lolled at the open space we could have walked together
Touched the grass that could have dirtied your bare foot.

And now as before
My heart bleeds
Everything was but an imagining
At the far end of the sand dunes
Cruel to the eyes.