Reagan's Rebirth

Marcos:
another
one transitions
from life's quest

Kennedy:
rediscovering
memories long
forgotten, long absolved

Aquino:
is
his heart
lighter than feather?

Nixon:
who
cares? I'm
no rookie anymore.

Subways

Subways

Aquino:
where
are we
going again Manong?

Marcos:
to
Times Square,
to the subway

A:
why
do we
walk ten blocks?

M:
we
walk to
know the city

A:
sidewalks
stink of
refuse strewn about

M:
gentleman's
clubs invite
men to sin

A:
24
hour delis
feeding humanity's hunger

M:
grates
spewing steam,
awakened spirits rising

A:
graffity
testaments of
living with abandon

M:
we
walk to
see the truth.

Falujah, Iraq

Marcos:
bodies
are dragged
through the streets

Aquino:
man's
inhumanity is
breathtaking to see

Marcos:
Falujah,
Bosnia, Rwanda,
Samar, Mississippi, Argentina

Aquino:
we
kill to
survive another day

Marcos:
kill
to balance
scales of justice

Aquino:
kill
to purify
our very sins

Marcos:
the
deaths are
mere stops signs

Aquino:
a
brief respite
from cruel Life.

Philippine Democracy

Aquino:
it
is hopeless.
I am resigned.

Marcos:
That
is why
you were shot.

A:
You
ordered your
goons to shoot.

M:
I
did not!
Someone else did.

A:
Your
cronies or
yourself, same thing.

M:
Fernando
Poe Jr.
is a hiccup.

A:
FPJ
will continue
incompetence and corruption.

M:
He
might, he
might not. He

A:
will
not be
his own man!

M:
But
the Philippines
possesses true democracy.

A:
This
is not
what I envisioned.

M:
No,
it is
not an ideal.

A:
Erap
and FPJ
are merely puppets.

M:
But
the masses
voted for them.

A:
The
people as
masses are fools.

M:
The
masses woke
and left me.

snow upon souls

Kennedy:
come
on, the
snow is powder

Nixon:
snow
washes all
of my sins

Marcos:
i
tried to
make snow once

Aquino:
you
invited my
family to ski

Kennedy:
powdered
snow is
a woman's kiss

Marcos:
the
cold invades
senses, heart, mind

Aquino:
snow
is god's
memory failing imperceptibly

Nixon:
shed
like antlers,
a lonely memory

Kennedy:
enough!
put on
your skis, follow!

Aquino:
can
souls break
legs while remembering?

Nixon:
only
for a
moment, not unlike

Marcos:
those
alive who
endure life knowingly.

A Flip Flipping on Snow

First
there was
snow. Then there

was
sky. There
was snow again.

Spot

Kennedy:
run
spot run!
Marcos wants azucena!

Marcos:
americans!
always flinching
even before trying

K: look
at the
world – American image

M: yes!
injustices masquerade
as grand achievements!

K: Philippines
an example
of American achievement

M: true,
my accomplishments
are half American.

K: American
democracy thrives
around the world .

M: America
strives to
give to the world.

K: America
is like
the world's shepherd.

M: and
the wolves
in shepherd's clothings?

Marcos:
what's
the big
deal with breasts?

Nixon:
everyone
has a
set of hooters.

Kennedy:
not
all breasts
are created equal.

Aquino:
no,
some are
to be treasured.

Marcos:
Janet
Jackson only
showed a star

Kennedy:
too
short too
little too small

Aquino:
for
the FCC
way too much

Nixon:
bunch
of fools
those FCC folks

Marcos:
they
should focus
on important things

Kennedy:
not
the bob
of a boob.

New Year's 2004
Kennedy: what
happened? last
I remember, Marilyn

.....Nixon: Marilyn
.....was here
.....dancing with me!

Marcos: blame
Ninoy. he
sent Marilyn packing.

.....Aquino: Jack
.....kept shouting
.....for doggie style!

Nixon: I
remember that!
he was hyperventilating

.....Kennedy: forty
.....years of
.....not seeing, touching

Marcos: can
drive a
man to tears

.....Nixon: So
.....long. forty
.....years of yearning,

Aquino: and
Jackie? She
deserves more respect.

.....Kennedy: man
.....can love
.....more than one.

Marcos: perhaps
you speak
of desire, lust.

.....Aquino: marriages
.....are sacred
.....sanctified by God.

Nixon: however
we have
passed the veil

.....Marcos: the
.....mortal coil
.....no longer inhibits.

Kennedy: to
be alive
and to desire

.....Marcos: is
.....torture. but
.....there are advantages.

Aquino: (smiles)
pulutan doggie
style is here.

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.