Tuesday, December 23, 2003

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!

Saturday, December 20, 2003

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.

Sunday, December 14, 2003

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.

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

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.


Friday, December 05, 2003

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.

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

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.


Tuesday, December 02, 2003

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.