SACRILEGE

For twenty five a kilo

Three mangoes robbed me

Of my fare to school

A peddler had lured me

Of the fruit’s intoxicating sweet smell

And its bright yellow flesh

To accompany me

In a day’s absence

But I hadn’t seen

Before the peddler could leave

That the mangoes

Had black rings

Bruised marks

Caked scars

Amidst its smooth surface

That ran deep in the flesh

When a worm wriggled out

From these scabs

Smirking, I threw the mangoes

In the trash bin

signages

(At the Network Bank, Mintal)

Please deposit your firearms

at the guard’s desk on

Monday to Saturday

8:30 am to 3:30 pm

when the door is

closed or

when it is

offline

and people cue

for the guard to attend

on their Bancnets and

Megalinks

or SSS Pension Loans

to be accepted

inside the bank

he tiptoed past his daughter’s bedroom

when silence draped over each hour

I will catch it this time, he said

talking about the toothfairy

he came to know in childhood

still life

the moon zigzagged

across the dark waters

lulling the boat to sleep

while passengers

disembark

one

by

one

AGAIN

And we are strangers again

walking towards the shore where

we first met

retracing our footsteps

one by one

being washed up to the sea

uk- abi nq mgcomment nka???

jo- ang pix ba!!!

the rest– pg comment na mu..

just a nub of dirt

you kicked the mound

of earth you gathered

yesterday when you thought

you could plant all the

roses and daisies–

her favorite– in your backyard

but the night’s rain had

washed off it’s color

to a murky orange

like the holy water

filled with wriggling

larvaes of mosquitos

between you and her

you won’t call her

anymore. you

won’t send flowers

either. but you

had her address

and telephone numbers

which I think

you memorized

by heart even without

me reminding you

of the sequences of each digit

or street signs

and codes

six complementary copies of Encarta installer,
a video documentary on Hitler,
vials as token of a sorority,
a bar pin hooked on
a withered stem of a once-pink-rose,
uncapped tequila bottle of a Jose Cuervo Especial
made into ‘alkansya,’ while another
an Absolut Citron Vodka
an unsealed letter for ‘Marjie’
and an egg case of playing cards
sprawled on a dresser’s cabinet
speckled with dust
over the weekend’s absence–
negligence.