Babaylan Speaks

Marcos:
listen
as Babaylan
speaks in tongues

Victoria's Not-So-Secret Secret

Aquino:
is
it on?
is it on?

Nixon:
not
yet. it's
scheduled for eight

Kennedy:
is
it that
time of year

Marcos:
I'm
afraid so;
Victoria's Secret Models.

A: where's
the popcorn?
where's the remote?

N: stop
hogging the
popcorn and remote!

K: give
it to
me. I control

M: no
you don't.
no one controls

A: the
models as
they ramp up

N: maybe
you all
should ramp downstairs!

K: I
love their
wings white feathery

M: wings
will be
good in pinakbet!

Pilipino Plu

Kennedy:
I
feel so
weak, so tired.

.....Marcos:
.....it's
.....the flu.
.....a Pilipino variant.

K: I
thought we
existed within dreams

.....M: Of
.....a Filipino!
.....His dreams are

K: more
real than
reality itself. How?

.....M: To
.....him Filipinos
.....live breathe exist

.....in
.....New York,
.....unlike the movies.

.....Filipinos
.....work in
.....butcher shops newspaper

..... stands
..... and in
..... Wall Street's halls .

.....Filipinos
.....are maids
.....and hobbits cooking

.....and
.....eating twelve
.....meals per day.


K: So
everyone else
is an object

subject
to the
whims of Filipinos?

.....M: And
.....you would
.....call me Dictator.

Fathers of Mulatto

Jefferson:
finally
I am
not alone anymore.

Thurmond:
what?
where the
hell am I?

you
are the
product of sin.

everyone
is product
of sinning cavorting.

yes
but hypocrisy
will follow everything.

her
name was
Carrie, beauty, light

her
name was
Sally, light, beauty

in
a different
time and place

if
I were
only stronger, better

against
rage, condemnation.
if only I

could
have done
what is right

instead
of what
is so easy.

regret
is everything
that I have.

everything
I have
is that regret.

Ode to Strom, Captivated by Jungle Fever!


Kennedy:
strom
thurmond is
just like us

Nixon:
a
crook by
any other name

is
the father
of a mulatto.

and
he ran
as a Dixiecrat!

once
jungle fever
gets you dancing

you
can't stop
working the help!

ow!
where is
he hiding now

I
believe Strom
was sent there

no,
not there!
surely a sin

like
that demands
a heavy price.

but
there? I
wonder why we…

specially
us. patron
saints of liars,

adulterers
hypocrites supreme.
we should visit

he
who walks
upright in heat.

madyong

Marcos:
compadre
join the
table for fun

.....Aquino:
.....Pinoy
.....game lambanog
.....and sour pulutan

Kennedy:
poker
in ivy,
champion of navy

.....Nixon:
.....five
.....card stud,
.....school ' hard knocks


click,
krick, bang!
oops! sorry! click

.....Aquino:
.....erect
.....the wall
.....of pearl teeth

Marcos:
counter
clockwise, roll
the fateful dice

.....Nixon:
.....count,
.....count. measured
.....steps for everyone

Kennedy:
lands
on me
thus I begin.

.....Kennedy:
.....one
.....ball, the
.....unity of all

Nixon:
east
wind, blowing
everyone's fate determined

.....Marcos:
.....Kang!
.....four of
.....a kind, luck.

Aquino:
seven
char, man
walking to heaven.

.....Nixon:
.....Pong!
.....three men
.....making dire choices

Marcos:
Green
dragon. the
winds with me.

.....Aquino:
.....two
.....character, bridge
.....to cross rivers

Kennedy:
Chao!
the straight,
one two three.

.....Winner:
.....madyong!
.....escalera while
.....picking nine sticks.

Adobo

Aquino:
3:1
soy sauce
and sukang paombong

Marcos:
garlic
peppercorns meat
simmered braised and fried

on
dancing flames
of earthly dreams.

drifting
aroma, alchemistic
tobacco trail rising

from
a slumbering
kapre's enchanted pipe.

meat
imbibing bitter
notes from bay

leaves
grown 'neath
the shade of

kalumpang
abode of
a tearful tikbalang.

garlic
fried in
oil to sanctify

the
moment of
quiet childhood delight.

Visitation at Dawn

Aquino:
Doveglion
walks to
buy his groceries.

Marcos:
always
alone, in
solitude, at war.

in
youth a
lion roaring roaring

some
flirtation, dash
intimidation, more experimentation

a
litany to
confuse the colonizer

to
bring them
to their knees

shackle
the mind,
throw into tizzy

break
God's skull
in ways unimagined.

Doveglion
soars above
the sidewalk listening

for
punctuation breaking
crushing church foundations

for
dashes tearing
tearing buttresses anew

with
commas ripping
ripping time's continuity.

Into
the landscape
he stares mute

where
God holds
dominion, supreme, absolute

there
Doveglion will
piece by piece

inspect
break by break
God's crushed skull.

Thanksgiving 2003

Nixon:
do
you have
the stuffing ready?

Kennedy:
a
few more
minutes of cooking

the
meal will
be scrumptious just

like
the pinoy
white house meal

waxing
dreamily will
not help cook

the
turkey! has
it been defrosted?

been
in the
oven for hours.

the
pinoys will
bring sisig and

pulutan!
maybe some
goat or if

unlucky
they bring
your pet checkers

dog
tastes like
chicken tangy soft

you
become more
pinoy everyday. what

next?
I learn
the cha-cha from…

cha-cha!
Ninoy only
dances with his

wife.
but she's
not here yet.

maybe
marilyn can
drop by and

great!
ferdie will
shout taxie hall

that
one loves
dancing and dancing

you
repeat words
like a pinoy

when
drinking with
them it helps

to
speak like
them. do they

miss
the other side?
they laugh more

than
before when
everything was important

life
or death.
now it is

one
big show
to amuse us.

A Bolo and A Turkey


Rizal:
without
a head
how long would

Bonifacio:
a
turkey run
after being boloed?

why
must you
insist on boloing

my
bolo demands
fulfillment of desires

like
humans demanding
for ritual blood.

Franklin's
turkeys are
the gastronomic ablutions

frankincense
for wrathful
echoes of divinity.

to
pacify fear
the eclipse within

to
strike against
the inscrutable Fate

to
protect from
constant self delusions.

consumption
of excess
allays and hides

what
rages like
smoke in forests

all
glut is
derived from the

bones
and flesh
of other cultures.

On Being a Crook


Marcos:
I
heard you
are a crook

Nixon:
what?
I am
not a crook!!!

easy,
easy. you
are among friends.

hah!
I left
like an animal

grasping
searching for
the least worthwhile

worried
about trifles
when thinking about

leaving.
living is
such sweet sorrow

and
you? what
about your exile?

I
finally came
home to America.

to
America? I
do not understand.

America
birthplace of
seven deadly sins

don't
blame America
for your greed!

I
do not.
I learned well.

Contemplations on Bullets

Kennedy:
so
you are
also a martyr?

Aquino:
more
than twenty
pierced my skin.

three
high calibered
passed me by

one
is really
all you need.

yours
must have
been a sight

once
fired only
bullets stopped bullets

bullets
ended what
bullets started, poetic…

reality
intruded into
my quiet dance

cha-cha?
I always
wanted to learn!

I
only dance
with my wife.

The Center of Gravities of Tatooes


Marcos:
shhhh
she's reading
gravities of center

Aquino:
is
she performing
anthropological once more?

not
yet. it's
about some guy

who
wants to
take and take

but
does not
give in return.

tatooes
attract them
far and wide

like
moths to
Stygian dancing flame

seekers
of truth
in many forms

but
truth is
trans-uranic in nature

glowing
brightly but
for a millisecond

trailing
paths obscured
by liquid nitrogen.

wait,
she reads
from the poem

she
scares me
when she reads.

she
scares me,
when she reads.

On Filipinos


Nixon:
why
do we
speak like this

Kennedy:
we
exist in
a Filipino's dream.

filipinos
voted for
me in California

filipinos
make such
nice domestic help.

filipino
stewards serve
excellent coffee in

the
White House,
but there was

one
steward who
threw chairs across

the
parquet floors!
He scratched it

during
the 1950's,
in Ike's years!

did
you know
the filipino steward?

very
respectful, always
with a SIR

why
throw chairs
instead of cha-cha?

he
wanted to
be back home

home
or the
white house? Insanity!

he
dances cha-cha
with his wife.

The World (of) Order by Americans


Aquino:
tell
me something,
will you manong?

Marcos:
what
is it
now? your daughter?

why
do americans
love flags more...

than
women homosexuals
blacks yellows browns.

yes!
I must
be too blind

all
they care
about is money.

but
constitutional amendments
are being changed

it
all comes
down to money

and
you would
know about money

of
course! I
am an American!

I
still do
not see what

the
attraction is:
power and glory

that
fleets so
quickly like life

if
you have
enough of one

what?
what can
you create, accomplish?

I
am American:
Dead yet inspiring!

you
inspire fear
resentment anger hate

beneath
it all:
being the best!

enough
of you.
the Americans are

mystical,
powerful yet
awefully flawed in

morals?
not that
easy. They are

believers
in their
agency, their destiny.

so
contradictory in
actions and policy

don't
you see?
strength beauty omniscience

Questions
dilemma paradox,
The cruelest joke.

like
my end,
the cruelest joke.

Jose & Andres Go to the Karinderia


Rizal:
hurry
up will
you? we're late.

Bonifacio:
who
had to
clean a fedora?

I
want to
make an impression.

impress
who? them?
we are heroes!

so
are they.
at least some.

I
was martyred
by that bastard.

wait,
is aguinaldo
in the group?

I
hope not!
he deserves oblivion.

you
are so
harsh to him.

he
sent his
henchmen to do it!

he
was busy
running the government.

he
had no
respect for anyone.

the
invitation does
not name him.

good!
did you
bring the tuba?

may duwendeng naglalaro

may
duwendeng nagtatago
naglalaro sa kompyuter

lagi
na lang
tumutuldok ang makinilya

handaan
ko kaya
siya ng pagkain

titigil
kaya ang
kanyang pagbisita rito

The Fallen Angel

Marcos:.................................Aquino:

See
what did
I tell you
........................................................that
........................................................she's the
........................................................fallen angel savant

not
angel savant
a great avant

........................................................hmmm,
........................................................feels like
........................................................a post avant

just
go with
me on this

........................................................then
........................................................you are
........................................................the people's hero

Marcos:……………………..Aquino:



see
there, right
there, I tried…

………………………………………to
………………………………………make the
………………………………………world a better

place.
yes! of
course that's it

………………………………………then
………………………………………how come
………………………………………it's not better

well
i didn't
have enough time

………………………………………what?
………………………………………you had
………………………………………twenty years, twenty!

my
son would
have continued it

………………………………………no!
………………………………………not for
………………………………………another twenty years

Marcos:.......................Aquino:

look,
it's not
that I'm complaining

...................................................yes
...................................................it is
...................................................you always complain

you
undid everything
I had created

....................................................(snorts)
....................................................yeah, thanks
....................................................for grooming Erap

blame
me for
enrile, not erap

.....................................................don't
.....................................................get me
.....................................................started on kudetas

i
never endorsed
kudetas by anyone

......................................................you
......................................................just made
......................................................the military learn

when
will you
forgive my faults

......................................................when
......................................................our politicians
......................................................learn about truth

Juan Tamad

why
does mother
shout at me

when
i sit
under the tree

newton
did it
and discovered gravity

Unang Subok

Neneng,
Pasubok ngang
magsulat ng tula

Ah,
ganire
pala itong hay(naku)

Para
bagang isang
malamig na batis