SUDDENLY, IT IS EVENING
the room is wide
this morning
as wide as your pain
somewhere in a corner
of remembered remembering
where were you
when the sea
was bereft of broken beer bottles
and crumpled tin cans?
last night the rainbow jukebox
blared your song
while the smoke-filled bar
echoed with drunken laughter
and your epilogue
of wasted years.
it should have been this way--
no, no, no, it could have been that way
( the last stanza consists of 15 lines, the last of which echoes the title)
....
....
....
....
....
....
and suddenly, it is evening
photo shots in Singapore*/included in the Ilokano-English anthology, "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Agains, Stranger", launched in the 11th Nakem International Conference at the Pangil Beach Resort, Currimao, Ilocos Norte, Philippines, May 23-25, 2016.
As Murderous As Politicians
Impunity is an ugly word. As ugly and terrible and murderous like Philippine politicians as well as policemen and private persons with political influence. (The Ampatuans of the of the infamous Maguindanao massacre, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who headed the most corrupt administration in the country's history, among others.)
Webster's dictionary defines impunity as exemption from punishment, penalty, or harm. A similar word with the same meaning is immunity or exemption from obligation imposed on others like exemption from taxation and exemption from criminal prosecution.
Impunity. Immunity from suits. Lucky are these and their followers including kinsmen who show contempt for the law and do whatever they wish to do knowing they get away with it. Even if they are caught and hailed before the courts, the means for them to escape punishment is always there--money to pay off the judges and lawyers and witnesses.
Were the Ampatuans thinking about these when they massacred 58 people in Maguindanao. They had all the tools to commit the beastly deed--guns, back hoe-- and they were in power as was their patron, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who created them.
Can we apply the word to an Isabela mayor who gets what he wants in the municipal government? The mayor gets P53, 000 monthly salary while his wife as his executive assistant receives P23,000 as salary, while an in-law and two other relatives receives at least P15,000 each as monthly salaries. In addition, the mayor has 5 service vehicles that include an Innova and an expensive car like Lenux?
From Childhood and Poetry
To feel the intimacy of of brothers is a marvelous thing in life. To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our life. But to feel the affection that comes from those we do not know, from those unknown to us, who are watching over our sleep and solitude, over our dangers and weaknesses--that is something that is greater and more beautiful because it widens out the boundaries of our being, and unites all living things.
