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Damsel reads her Poem



January 24, 2009, 7:30 pm
Wings & Wedges Matina Town Square
Davao City, Philippines



*Damsel reads "WORKSHOP"*

I sit at the center,
the red metal stool
carries my weight.
the girl in blue stares
me down with tiger eyes.

I face the other side,
drag the stool
as it screeches,
and bites my skirt—
sounding like my thoughts
of repulsion

The teacher shouts,
“What’s the central image?”
the girl nods,
not once but twice
as the man
hammers
my poems
on the table.

I face them both,
carrying
my own weight
he hurls my paper
up in the air,
Our eyes witness
as my words
fall
like loosened
leaves of a tree.



From left to right:
Jhoanna Lynn Cruz (thesis adviser),
Damsel, The Davao Writers' Guild Members

Photos by
Dominique Cimafranca and Mairis Flores

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Post Christmas Gifts

From
Kuya Omar Richardson Sutherland

And Still I Rise (Poems)
by Maya Angelou
The Complete Shorter Fiction
of Virginia Woolf

The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson
(Barnes & Nobles)



Thank you so much Kuya Omar!
I'm starting to love Maya Angelou, hehe...
Thank you, Thank you Kuya, you're the best.

(Little Sister hugs her Kuya, wee)

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Escape

Lysistrata by Aristophanes
15 php

The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker
5 php


Sofia Pretovna by Lydia Chukovskaya
15php




@ KCC Gensan Booksale
January 13, 2009



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Ang Buta ug Ang Buktot


(The Blind Man and the Hunchback[i])

Once upon a time, there was a blind man and a hunchback, who lived in a place called Kalubihan. The blind man, Buta, and the hunchback, Buktot were the best of friends. One hot afternoon, while walking, Buta and Buktot came across a tall coconut tree.

Buktot suddenly had a craving for coconut. He thought of climbing the coconut tree. He said to Buta, “I’ll climb up the coconut tree. You count aloud the number of fruits you hear falling to the ground. After I get them all, we will gather them and share.”

Buta agreed, and waited at the base of the tree. Buktot climbed up the tree, but the hump on his shoulders weighed him down, and halfway up the coconut tree he lost his grip and fell.

Buta thought it was a coconut fruit that he heard hit the ground, and shouted, “One!”

Buktot was displeased but did not complain. He was determined to get some coconuts for himself and his best friend. He climbed up the coconut tree again, but the same thing happened.

Buta shouted, “Two!”

Buktot was getting frustrated. He craved the fruit and was not going to leave until he could get at least one. He could not deceive his best friend, so he really needed to get a coconut to prove that he was doing what he said he would do, and also satisfy his craving. So he climbed the tree a third time, with the same result.

Buta, delighted with his friend's progress, called out, “Three!”

He decided Buktot had picked enough fruit for one day and said, “Let’s come back here tomorrow.”

Buktot, finally getting angry, complained, “Couldn't you tell that was me falling out of the tree? I haven't gotten any coconut fruits!”

“You fell out of the tree three times?” Buta asked. “Was it your hump that made you fall?”
“What else?” Buktot screamed.

Buta felt sorry for his best friend. They walked up the mountain in silence, but Buta prayed for Buktot's hump to go away, so that the next time Buktot wanted to climb a tree, it would be easy for him.

At the same time, Buktot prayed that Buta to get his sight back. Neither was aware that the other was praying for him.

The next morning, Buta was amazed to discover that he could see. He saw how beautiful Kalubihan was. In his joy, he ran to Buktot’s house, eager to tell him about this miracle. When he got there, he could not believe what he saw. Buktot’s hump was gone. They were both happy. When they realized what had happened, they gave thanks to God, not only for answering their prayers but for creating the problem with the coconut tree that had led them to offer their prayers.

A Tagalog traditional Folktale

The Blind Man and the Hunchback. 30 Nov. 2008.

Philsites 2002

/stories/laughter4.html >.


*Thanks to my personal editor K.O.R.S.


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Renga with Poetikamo *woman*

Beaten, battered, bruised by fate..
dirt covered fate
lain still
in blasphemy

her sheer sufferings a moment to spare
as she stands flaunting, dancing in the light-
a woman who yearns for years,
her mime in the absence so dear

shattered is her fragile frame
yet strong is her soul
to be queen...
her heart's goal

and the lust in her spirits wished
to the heart of a blasphemous woman-
dancing still,
playing
a bruised mime.

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Buoyant

Us-

away,


You-

trying to reach out


We-

idle

without words

whimpering

between

wasted

invisible lines.


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Of Words & Pages II

Stones for Ibarra by Harriet Doerr
10php, December 29, 2008
@ Booksale Gensan

How Wal Mart is Destroying America by Bill Quinn
40php January 2, 2008
@ Booksale Gensan
Too late the Phalarope by Alan Paton
15 php, January 2, 2008
@ Booksale Gensan

The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
15 php, January 2, 2008
@ Booksale Gensan
The Bell Jar by Slyvia Plath
15 php, January 2, 2008
@ Booksale Gensan
Plaintext by Nancy Mairs
5 php December 29, 2008
@ Booksale Gensan
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
15php, December 29, 2008
@ Booksale Gensan
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
15php December 29, 2008
@ Booksale Gensan
Pinnochio by Carlo Collodi
15 php December 29, 2008
@ Booksale Gensan
Bluebeard's Egg and other stories by Margaret Atwood
15php December 29, 2008
@ Booksale Gensan
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
15 php, December 29, 2008
@ Booksale Gensan


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Of Words & Pages

The Fur Person by May Sarton,
15 php
(December 24, 2008)

T.S Eliot (Selected Poems)
40php
Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
30php
The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
40php

@ Booksale Angeles City, Pampanga
December 25, 2008

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