Filed under Literature

to love a coconut tree

[here's a short piece i wrote in 2005. i was left behind in our cottage in busy and overcrowded Puerto Galera, enjoying a strange moment of solitude. that was the last time i went to the notorious White Beach during the long Holy Week break, when the entire gay crowd in Malate goes to Puerto Galera.]

It’s best to do it at dusk. Grab a bottle of beer, cold or warm, it doesn’t really matter because it’s the devotion that counts. Let it enthrall you with its sway, its fronds dancing away a faithful desire to fly. Before the day ends, it giggles ruthlessly, like a boy who, after all the side glances and the furtive smiles, stands up slowly to take his leave.

Today, the one that caught my attention stands solitary in the horizon. It is unmindful of the crowd, ignoring even the careful fondness that i have slowly but earnestly nurtured. Lest misunderstood, I have no agenda or ulterior motives: I just wish to be mesmerized by its obsession with the wind. I would like to stay this way until the evening sky reveals its gems. I would like to stare at it until the madness raging inside my head becomes summer bubbles and float away with the wind.

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Duffy again

Give me a Duffy for Christmas. Please.

Last year, Jeanette Winterson interviewed Carol Ann Duffy for her collection of poems, Rapture. I want one for Christmas. Period.

The poem below is from a different collection called “Mean Time.” Indulge.

Valentine

Not a red rose or a satin heart.

I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.

Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.

I am trying to be truthful.

Not a cute card or kissogram.

I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.

Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring,
if you like.
Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.

– Carol Ann Duffy

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Milenyo, Meralco and a ‘Second World’ country

Shortly after President GMA announced that the Philippines has already become a Second World country, “Milenyo” (international name: Xangsane) slapped her with a wet rebuke. “Milenyo” does not even qualify as one of the strongest typhoons to hit the country; its sustained speed of 130 kph is nothing compared to Loleng’s maximum winds of 290 kph in 1998. Yet power supply is down in most parts of Luzon and some areas remain waterless. Worse, 72 people were killed. Whoever told President GMA to proclaim our ascencion from a Third World to a “Second World” country should be made to travel the length of EDSA in the middle of a tropical typhoon.

(Incidentally, and a colleague was wise to point this out, “Second World” as a term collectively refers to the communist-socialist states that were within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union.)

Anyway, power is still down in our village. I’ve been calling Meralco‘s 16211 24-hour customer service hotline since Thursday, and this morning, at 4 AM, I finally got through. I had to endure Meralco’s jingle (“Bagyo o bumaliktad man ang mundo, maasahan ninyo… Mas masaya, mas maganda ang may kuryente…“) for several minutes, and finally a voice – a male voice – answered on the other line. I asked him immediately when Meralco would be able to restore power in our area, and he said that they don’t have an estimate yet but – and here he was suddenly upbeat – i should be happy to note that 60% of Luzon has electricity already.

I would have asked him to give me a list of places with power supply – anywhere in Luzon – so that I could immediately pack up and move out, but that would have been too calloused on my part.

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Milenyo, Meralco and a 'Second World' country

Shortly after President GMA announced that the Philippines has already become a Second World country, “Milenyo” (international name: Xangsane) slapped her with a wet rebuke. “Milenyo” does not even qualify as one of the strongest typhoons to hit the country; its sustained speed of 130 kph is nothing compared to Loleng’s maximum winds of 290 kph in 1998. Yet power supply is down in most parts of Luzon and some areas remain waterless. Worse, 72 people were killed. Whoever told President GMA to proclaim our ascencion from a Third World to a “Second World” country should be made to travel the length of EDSA in the middle of a tropical typhoon.

(Incidentally, and a colleague was wise to point this out, “Second World” as a term collectively refers to the communist-socialist states that were within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union.)

Anyway, power is still down in our village. I’ve been calling Meralco‘s 16211 24-hour customer service hotline since Thursday, and this morning, at 4 AM, I finally got through. I had to endure Meralco’s jingle (“Bagyo o bumaliktad man ang mundo, maasahan ninyo… Mas masaya, mas maganda ang may kuryente…“) for several minutes, and finally a voice – a male voice – answered on the other line. I asked him immediately when Meralco would be able to restore power in our area, and he said that they don’t have an estimate yet but – and here he was suddenly upbeat – i should be happy to note that 60% of Luzon has electricity already.

I would have asked him to give me a list of places with power supply – anywhere in Luzon – so that I could immediately pack up and move out, but that would have been too calloused on my part.

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