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Untying the Knot


My Poetic Assessment for a Fruitful 2008

January
Birth

A blissful hope,
Sunflowers blossoming-
smile.
(New Beginning)

February
Scarlet Hearts

Love.
A more radical love.
Love.
Radical.
Amore.
( Love, Love and more Love)

March
Reversible

Writing,
Learning,
Yearning
Yearning,
Learning,
Writing
(Ma'am Jhoan's Subject, Poetry 1 requirements)

April
Enduring the pain…
( Still writing ... Summer Class @ UP Diliman)

May
Home

I told her to fetch me at the airport,
I was excited
For I will be going home
And for the main reason
that we will be seeing each other again
after a very long summer break

The night before I left Manila
I sorted out some keepsakes,
I thought of giving her
the only ballerina keychain I saw
at a small tiangge at Baguio
(a smiling ballerina given
by one of her melancholy audience)

It was a total euphoria-
I was so happy that time,
when I arrived at the airport
I looked for her,
Searching
for nothing
She’s always like that
Absent-
But still, I went home-
Alone

“The same Old house,” I told myself
Decorations everywhere, appliances but
none of which was harmony
for Solitude was a perfect company.

I was longing
Like the smiling ballerina I bought
Who’d wish
to make her lonely audience smile
(At least for a while.)
(19th Birthday, Summer Class @ UP Diliman, Baguio Escapade)

June
Dusk

It was dusk-
An Insufficient light
A vanquished endeavor.
(Acad Mode)

July
Persistent enough to Write.
(Thesis)


August
Peridot Blues

It was like getting a lemon
and squeezing it on your wound-
(a painful countenance)
(War...)

September
Sick

still
Under medication,
working on her verses,
Enduring fragments ,
And unuttered syllables
Still
Unfinished business.
Blank sheets of paper,
Dying pen
A relentless hunger to write a twelve-line poem
Ending the only couplet with the word
Still.
(Pain and War, War and Writing, Writing and Pain)

October
Shooting Star

Come and Go
Come and Go
Far away and distant,
You’re an elusive star
Vanishing before my wistful eyes
When will I see you again?
Will you ever come back?
Where art thou?
Where art thou?
(Semestral Break, Thesis, Longing, Lost)

November
Present

Working like a busy ant-
Encountering daily traffic,
Problems and optimism
Just to offer you
the most wonderful gift
You never thought
I was capable of giving--
My basted verses
sealed
with a Kiss
(Gifts, Thoughtfulness, Love and War)

December
Chess

I scheduled the game,
It was the summer of May,
my Month,

I thought
I was privileged to win
(You always want the best for me)
You were very unlikely that time
you wanted a competition,
you played like a God
the master of all things- everything
(as I’ve been telling you)

I breathed to open a Sicilian move
Two of my knights-
on guard
but
you were such a Genius
a hailed virtuoso
you were too clever-

I lost my strongest officials
There were only a few pawns left-
Too gullible to win
I was losing that time

I surrendered
like my captured pieces

I knew I was capable to fight
But I rather gave up
For I knew I was faint enough to fight
in a game I was never accustomed to win.
(War, War, War and Letting Go)


Happy New Year Everyone!




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POEms

Selves
Poems by Philip Booth, 10php

That Would Explain the Violinist
Poems by Sunil Freeman, 15php


@ Booksale Gensan
Photos by Damsel

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Whereabouts II

Longing
*I miss Mickey*
December 16, 2008 @ NOVO Gen San

Fan Fiction
* I love Comics*
Remembering the Old Good Days

December 15, 2008 @ Kristan Bookstore

Refuge
*The best Bookshop ever*
December 14, 2008 @ KCC Mall of Gen San

Photos by Damsel

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Woe-man

Loving A Woman in Two Worlds,
Poems by Robert Bly, 15php



Surface Tension by Meg Dally,15php

@ Booksale Davao (NCCC)
December 9, 2008


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M & M

"It takes two to tango"


Mickey: Please tell the doctor, I'm sick.
Minnie: Really,sick of what?
Mickey: Sick of you! *laughs*
Minnie:



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Longing


The most striking gift I saw
[among all the gifts my sister had received on her 18th bday.]
(A birthday card from Glenn Clark)

envelope

Front Cover****** Content



Maybe because of my Yoyo and Hoops bookmark
I and Krisza bought at NBS SM Davao



Yoyo:Krisza ****** Hoops:Damsel

Photos by Damsel

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The Other

caught in a conundrum
every night,
words haunt him
to let him sleep

his mind
coupling like dogs,lady-and-
lordbugs
reciting all
the legendary and the real

but the images
of towers of ivory forced his mind
to dwell
and lost its innocence-
find no way of forgetting

to forget the words
and to go on without the Other,
only with yourself
are simply two separate sins

you will feel only pain
if you play with your heart
whenever you utter your mind.

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Redemption

Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad, 15php


@ Booksale Davao,
December 5,2008


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Requiem for a Dream


Finally, it meant to speak in tongues
the gift
like a gush of cool broken stalactites
and stalagmites
and heart
and innards
and spring water
in hidden cave
rattled off the top sin after sin

upon the way
for still unflagging interest,
stories relish to stay
and remain assured

open book-
dreaming
on a strand of perfumed hair,

from sleep
it was a singsong voice
that rhymes taught
to be imprisoned in the cave
of the unfamiliar.

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Time


Always beginning sadly
and leave
in the hearing distance of months
I'd wake and slipped away
because to move around
can go back ways

Always beginning anew,
hid them away
because i did not know
that shapes of letters
were enough
to stir anyone's

One-
abandoned,
people deserting us will be missing-
if hardly to remit the face
that keeps every day's
obvious truth of privilege

Convince an ingenuous mathematical formula
for being normal
but of what voice seemed
to be the whirlwind
not remitting another two
and a worth of disinterest
presumed right
of everything

To cheat after all
force people
not only enough
but Enough
death



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Spark



Grandfather said
as if to encompass the white yard,
"This metal for builders
wheels antique fire
for old blue ladies"

He led the metal cutter,
pushed a sheet of blade-
the noise clamp our ears,

Spark.



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Apathy

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck, 15php

The Professor by Charlotte Bronte, 15php

Under the Eye of the Clock by Christopher Nolan, 20php

The Book of Christmas, 10php
(Featured writers:Robert Frost, Charles Dickens,
O. Henry, R.L Stevenson, W. Irving, Lewis Carroll,
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, etc.)

The Awakening by Kate Chopin,15php


@Booksale
Gensan

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When Night is Falling

Open,
Open your eyes,
the night is deep
its silence is howling-
a dark,
angry wolf foraging
in the woods

it is smelled of citrus
sweet and fresh-
a titillating aroma

Open,
Open your eyes
the night is engulfing
it is peppered with quartz
a glint of joy
blossoming

it has the starkest smile-
a badge of twinge
of woes,

of an unhappy
soul
hiding behind
the cloak
of
a dismal hope

but if you
try to kiss
the frost

close your eyes
this time
think
of an ocean
under a starry night
and a starfish hugging the shore

you hear
the waves
slapping the borderline
and the
solace
of the night

thumping
in the somber
tune
of
its own
heartbeat.

Note:
This will be my final poem for 2008 filed under ergo propter hoc.
It's sad but it's me...

Bye for now.

hiding behind the cloak of a dismal hope,
~Damsel

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Signs & Languages

To Chinese Guy

Bend to reach the book

to kiss wisdom and its forefathers
entering the labyrinth of symbols
and letters, of signs and intangibles

there ungraspable spaces,
thoughts,feelings
floating,
a woman singing
a damsel in despair
with a comb on her hand
without a baby, without a husband
alone
accompanying solitude

brainless humans,
dull,
dead,
beheaded, maimed
into abstraction-
nothingness

there only a man and a woman
face to face
speaking-
mute,
shameful faces peppered with
cracks of time

flourishing into a full bloom
no babies,
no seeds to harvest
empty barren lands
brown as death
filthy as a grease

there is no better understanding
with all of these,
only
fragments,
signs,
and
attempts
to bridge
indifference
in the

very depths
of cultural gaps

where the value of language
is a commodity-
no more,
no less
sweetly
spoken
by a liar's tongue.

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Heat

My Passion's burning

Photo by Damsel

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Feminine

I knew she was a lesbian when I was ten
we were playing "balay-balay"
it was raining that time
but I begged her to stay, to play

I made the "balay-balay"
it was more of a miniature bedroom than a house,
there were pillows, junk foods,
and a borrowed lampshade

we were together inside
laughing, conversing as if all I heard
were jokes, lies
and broken promises

it was a fair game
the earth was freshly bathed
when she left

it was radiant outside
but i never thought
that a "balay-balay"
could be played without a father
that a girl
and a woman
could also dwell inside such
a virile structure.

Balay-balay: a Visayan term for a game where children make use of
bedsheets, pillows, cartons to build a house

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Starry Night

To Vince

You sit there in your solitude
away from daily confrontations
of politics and life's drama
in the distance,
a 3 hour ride
away from your sister

The clock whispers immortality
each of which journeying
nature,
grasses,flowers, trees
and mountains possessing
all of you

none of the designs of your posts
and lintels ever tarnish
they live with the dead
cold
and remembered always
during All Saint's Day

you paint sadness in the corners
of your room
they glow
shining like diamonds
in a lonely
death-colored sky

rugged scribblings of your thoughts
empty my mind
thinking more and more
of poker,
of books
of people and togetherness

Your shy voice
I long to hear
they whisper immortality
like time scouring Nature
dwelling somewhere
in your starry night

far
and
distant

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Dear God,

I sent you a red balloon today
a wish on your birthday
hope everything's okay
in the absence of gray

I'm sorry I lied
like a groom to her bride
chasing colorful butterflies
tasting honeys and eggpies

I know you've been very sad
things went wrong, few were mad
but worry no more dear God
we'll be good and so you'll nod

fly red balloon fly
reach the heavens and kiss the sky
journey up, try and try
'til the oceans run dry

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The Poet and The Diarist

POET
(Adrienne Rich's A Wild patience has taken me this Far, 44php)
***
DIARIST
(Mary Sarton's The House by the sea, 15php)

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Lemon & Barbecue Sticks


i had the flavor tasted

it was yesterday

today

and the near future

it was the blue moon

you told me

it was you and me:

it was lemon

and barbecue sticks


Photo by Damsel

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Euphoria

A Collection of Essays by George Orwell

(Thanx for the patience Mike! sorry)
... I'll tell you what Art means, it is Love
George Orwell, 35php Booksale Gensan

Photos by Damsel

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From Damsel



Belated
Happy
Birthday
Best!

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Artillery

We were strangers
Boarding a cruise

Faceless souls
With dry tears

It was the first night
We shared our lives

Cheers to solitude
Hail to Paradise

we journeyed under the umbrella
Of sadness

Our eyes the same
Dry, lonely

Then sunrise came
It was piercing

We hoed hands
The way your mother once held yours

You knew me back then
I was the boy

Whom you left alone in the lawn
To celebrate your 7th birthday

I waited
It took me hours

You were gone in the absence
Still I stood like a great man

There were only birds
the dance of the trees

the cold
and the stench of a fleeting yesterday

I was left
A victorious soldier

Among all my beaten
Comrades.

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Lollipop

I licked my lollipop

in front of a girl,

She snickered-

I shuddered.

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Old Guitar

I plucked your aging guitar
the rhythm was still the same,
sad

it was the song I requested you to play
for my
20th birthday

I continued plucking,
eyes closed, fingers moving
to and fro the string

i stopped before the last stanza ended
the rhythm was incomplete
a note was lacking

there was your old guitar
there was the song I forgot
to sing on your 20th birthday

I should have sang the song
in your presence
with tears, flowers and cakes.

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Cat's Eye

black & deep cat's eye
framing the picture of sky-
a world of a fly

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Birthday Kisses

I blew you kisses for your birthday
the ones I kept inside a box

you'll see none of them when you open
for they were sealed
and locked inside my heart

I blew kisses for your birthday
the ones I kept inside a jar

you'll see none of the when you uncork
for they were invisibly made
mimicking the absence

I blew you kisses for your birtday
you see none of them
inside my heart

they prefer to be invisible
so they could wander and go astray in the absence
mimicking what I truly feel.

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Existence

my eyes surveying the corners of the room
wondering how Things exist inside the confined
small abode

whatelse do they do aside from
being dead
aside from being indifferent

they love to sleep in the silence
so tranquil,
deepest in sense

I wonder if they want to go outside
and play
together with the wind, trees and flowers

it's good to know that they exist
eventhough lifeless
and incapable to live

these mere objects,
i envy
their contentment

they stay awake
all the time
in the absence of time and memory

i sing to their souls
joyful but dead.

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Last Day of Scavenging

Victoria Plaza Mall, Davao City Philippines

Hiroshima by John Hersey 20php
I bought it coz I need it for our Essay Class ;)

Rawr... So many books
I ran out of time
.

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Haloween + Booksale

Remembering my Grandfather
KCC Marbel's Booksale
F. Scott Fitzgerald & Frank O'connor
(Thanks Mom!)

44php O'Connor, 40php Fitzgerald


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Unknown

your face in the dark
the stars and constellations
hallowed in the bush

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Alone

simple ramblings unveil
short talks and forgotten hellos
slid inside our pockets

spaces between fingers
still are spaces-empty
unnoticed

we walk along the path
we once dreamt
only to imagine how it is to be a company

still the lonely veranda is alone
two souls fused into one
lying in the cornerstone of hope.

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Poetry

i breathe through poetry
digesting the same words,
letters and pains

i catch emotions through poetry
with a butterfly net
tiptoeing

i shed tears through poetry
where tears are but
a cry of solace

i smell heartaches through poetry
the scent
seems a forgetful memory

since the day i breathe poetry
the senses
become pure-
raw and organic.

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lost in the dark cloud
endless blinded road -
waiting

a whistle from a far
moonlight darkening
silent

sadness
envelopes the sky
nowhere to go

whistle, wee,
will you, whimper,
waiting

winter is waiting
under the dark cloud
and the endless blinded road

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Deep Black



I was wondering
how deep black
was the untraveled
road we set eyes on

I was wondering
how deep black
was the pain
I had last ngiht

I was wondering
how deep black
was pain
and untraveled road

I was wondering
if it was deep black
it was pain
or simply a road

I was wondering
what,
where
and when It was

Deep black.

Photo by Damsel

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Fruit Basket

Shelter me into thy arms
Contain me into thy mold

Let me be your banana
Let me be your mango
Let me be you sweet clementine

the fragrance, the glory of thy heart.

Photo by Damsel

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Table Runner

threads and lemons
knit by patience and sweat

fingers bloodshot
bristles so fine

pale rectangular-stretched design
highlighting the mat

i run through my fingers
on your body

plain
enough to thwack his mouth

shred into pieces
until it turns into fine fibers-

knit another table runner once more
with whispers locked up
between the narrow spaces

the color of a lemon
scented with citrus secrecy


Photo by Damsel

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String Shadows


Coiling, Gripping, Dead

Swaying by the sunrise

Silhouettes all bend


Photo by Damsel

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Shore

I scribble letters on the shore
they were s,o and s

the waves dissolve the scribblings
there left an S

i wonder if the waves
disregard the S

forgiving enough
not to hit the shore

it is different
the waves are absent this time,

but the letter is still alive-
cold and numb

resting
on the shore of fantasy

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Mindanao Times features GiMix UP


GiMix UP by Vanessa Mae Almeria and Glenn Obenza

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MBS 2:Blogging the Mindanao Consciousness


Express not to Impress. Perhaps It was a collective feeling I felt after attending the 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit. October 25, 2008 marked one of Gensan's Big Events where Family Country Homes was peopled by bloggers coming from the three islands of the country.

Blogging is a way of self expression so to speak. The summit was attended by mostly Mindanao Bloggers who in one way or another firmly believe that we have something to say, we have a knowledge to impart and a consciousness to develop.Voices from an entrepreneur blogger, student blogger, photo blogger, tech blogger were also heard. A talk by Hector Minoza was delivered. He highlighted the Mindanao Consciousness. Filipinos in general have been blinded and victimized by the distorted image of Mindanao not knowing that Mindanao if once seen behind all the bullets and wars is an enchanted paradise of a rich culture.

The 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit paved the way on developing Mindanao consciousness among the bloggers not only for the Mindanaon. We communicate information through blogging. We should uncurl the dire reputation of Mindanao that the news have been feeding us. Mindanao is a place inhabited by rich and diversed culture. Mindanawon, Paminawon Intawon.

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Earth

aroma of earth
penetrating the body
of wandering thoughts

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Whereabouts

KCC Gensan's Booksale ( Lots of cheap used books Trivia: I can spend 6 hours merely for scavenging)
Reading Rilke


Reading Rilke
National Bookstore Gensan (Oooops! Expensive. i can only acquire books during bargain)


photos by Damsel

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