The birds insist on pecking the wooded dark. The wooded dark pecks back. It is time to show the universe what you are capable of, says my horoscope, increasingly insistent this month. But what I am capable of is staring at the salt accident on the coffee table & thinking, What sad salt. I […]
In the armpit of summer. In the asshole of August. In the what-the-fuck-am-I-doing of more grad school. I am in the 20th grade, rereading Rimbaud’s “Sonnet du Trou du Cul,” co-authored with his often-fucked-up sometimes-boyfriend Verlaine. Their joint ode to the asshole. The literal hole, puckering. The literal hole, the surrounding hairs. The metaphorical lips, & […]
it’s the middle of—the week? the street? the sentence, please i need to borrow your basket because? i’m looking for something. so ticklish with sound, eerie with truth. like really good dance music. like i’m in the middle of—a forest? a pancake? a pancake burning in a forest while the forest remains calm? […]
Nakatunganga ka nang mamatay na lamang ang lumang telebisyon Naglakbay ka upang ito’y ilibing sa disyerto nakatagpo mo ang isang multong naliligaw hanap ang kanyang katawan sa hungkag na kahon This poem first appeared in Guwang (High Chair Books, 2013).
Nagliyab ang bayan sa bukana ng siglo matapos ihulog ang mga salita: hiling: pumaslang at manunog. Higit na mabuti kung marami kabilang ang lahat ng lampas sa sampung taon Tila nakabitin sa mga dila ng mga kampana ang mga kahilingan Matapos ang babala wala nang tumitingala sa dupikal Sa guwang kipkip ng mga kampana ang […]
You were idling around when the old television died You traveled in order to bury it in the desert where you met a lost ghost looking for his body in an empty box Translated by Kristine Ong Muslim. You can read and listen to the poem in the original Filipino here.
The town ignited at the dawn of the century after dropping the words: yearning: to slay and destroy by fire. It is much better if there is more including everyone older than ten years As if dangling from the tongues of cathedral bells the wishes After the alarm sounded nobody is looking forward to the […]
Sikapin mo mang gawin ang lahat upang maging sining ang iyong buhay ay laging mabibigo Sikapin mo mang gawin ang lahat upang maging buhay ang iyong sining ay laging mabibigo Sikapin mo mang agawin ang iyong buhay upang maging lahat ang iyong sining ay laging mabibigo Ang iyong sining ay laging mababago ng iyong buhay […]