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.