Tayo (ika-2 ng Hunyo, 2025)

 

tayo

 

magkayakap,

sa himpapawid

lumipad, sumirit

 

bulalakaw,

sa kalawakan,

bumulusok.

 

nagbanggaan!

 

pero ito ang nawasak,

at di tayo.

 

ni di tayo nagalusan.

 

at ito pa ang napaso,

di tayo.

 

(paano pang papasuin

ang dalawang

sa simula’t sapul

nagliliyab?)

The Snakeman's Dream

I'm glad that TPT Magazine features four of my poems in their latest November 25, 2024 issue (Issue VII). Three can be read on this page. One, "The Snakeman's Dream," is not printed but an audio recording of my reading can be accessed here. And that's why I'm sharing the text of the poem in this blog post:

The Snakeman’s Dream

 

No python, so it won’t constrict

and squeeze me to my last,

but it’s poisonous still.

 

Unfailingly, every night

this reptile crawls out of its hole

in a corner of my bedroom wall,

then entwines and slithers all over me

as I lie in bed alone.

 

Unfailingly, I wish

that its head is your hand,

and its body, your arm.

 

Ah, different bodies,

same venom.

Buy my poetry books here in my Ecwid online shop, Karlo Sevilla Books & Stuff!

(image from TPT Magazine's webpage, November 25, 2024)

Depensib

 

And daming esteburetse

sa iyong paliwanag,

parang Meralco advisory

na sa YouTube ihinahayag

ang mga nakakalitong detalye

ukol sa bagong singil na dinagdag.

Napadaan Lang, Malamang

 (Nakalimutan ko na ang pamagat, watercolor sa illustration board, pininta ko noong estudyante ako ng College of Fine Arts - UP Diliman noong 1993.)

Ilang taon na ang lumipas at nangahas bumalik,

nagbabakasakaling may babalikan pang halik.

Nangangambang bumalik upang malaman

kung may babalikan pang dahilan.

Delatang Sardinas ng Laging Saklolo

O Delatang Sardinas ng Laging Saklolo,

Nawa’y busugin ang tiyang kumukulo,

Kapag ang ulam sa hapag ay ayaw ko,

Dahil nag-iinarte na naman ako.

 

Pagsalin sa Filipino ng Tulang "a smile to remember" ni Charles Bukowski

Heto ang una kong sinulat nitong 2022, noong ika-1 ng Enero mismo: ang pagsalin sa Filipino ng tulang a smile to remember ni Charles Bukowski (1920-1994).

isang ngiti na di malilimutan

meron kaming mga goldpis noon at sila’y nagpaikot-ikot

sa loob ng bowl sa ibabaw ng mesa na malapit

sa mga kurtinang kulay-lila sa harap ng aming bintana at

ang aming nanay, na kawawang isda, na laging nakangiti, na nais

magmukhang masaya, ay sinasabihan ako, “maging masaya ka, Henry,”

at tama siya: mas mainam na maging masaya ka

kung kaya mo

pero siya’y binubugbog ng aking tatay mga dalawa o tatlong beses

sa isang linggo habang ang huli’y nagwawala sa pamamagitan

ng kanyang 6 na talampaka’t 2 pulgadang katawan dahil di niya kayang

gapiin ang anumang umaatake sa kanya.

 

ang aking nanay, na kawawang isda, na kawawang goldpis,

na kawawang isda na walang-wala, na ginugulpi dalawa o tatlong beses

kada linggo ay sinasabihan ako na maging masaya: “Henry, ngiti!

Bakit di ka ngumiti?

 

at pagkatapos, lagi niyang pinapakita sa akin kung paano, at iyon ang

pinakamalungkot na ngiti na nakita ko sa ibabaw ng lupa, parang impyerno at

impyerno at impyerno at impyerno, at wala nang iba

 

isang araw nangamatay ang lahat ng goldpis, lahat silang lima,

nagpalutang-lutang sila sa ibabaw ng tubig, sa kanilang tagiliran, ang

mata sa bawat gilid sa itaas ay dilat pa,

at nang umuwi ang aking tatay ay tinapon niya sila sa pusa

sa sahig ng kusina at pinanood namin ang aming nanay

ngumiti

Twitter poem

I tried to write a poem that would fit a tweet to a T, with exactly 280 characters, and here's what I came up with:

Plath and Bukowski

I have Sylvia Plath's "Collected Poems" and Charles Bukowski's "You Get So Alone..."

The former borrowed from my sister a year ago, and since I've no plan of returning it, it's mine.

(Anyway she just lives in the next building and may "borrow" it anytime.)

The latter I bought from National Bookstore a month or two ago --

with money my wife thought better (and more humanely) spent for our little daughter's milk.

(One afternoon I found them lying on top of the other on top of our plastic bedroom drawer.)

I believe reading them both is good for my, ah, "poetic education"

and mental health. 

*  *  *

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, everyone! 

*  *  *

This blog is sponsored by Limitado

phone nos. 09167840522/ 023588753

and S.P.R.A.W.L.-MMA

3rd floor JN Building, 657 EDSA corner Monte De Piedad Street, Barangay Immaculate Concepcion, Cubao, Quezon City

Ham

Mother got pissed when she caught me
slicing ham with butter knife.

I said, It got it done. Just let me eat.
And quit the utensil profiling.

*  *  *

This blog is sponsored by Limitado

phone nos. 09167840522/ 023588753

and S.P.R.A.W.L.-MMA

3rd floor JN Building, 657 EDSA corner Monte De Piedad Street, Barangay Immaculate Concepcion, Cubao, Quezon City

Blunt

Rough at the edges,
foreboding a scrape or two,
till he smoothed final draft
with sandpaper of safe
sensibilities.

(Fool should've let surface
scratch where it may.
As they say, what doesn't
kill you...)

*  *  *

This blog is sponsored by Limitado

phone nos. 09167840522/ 023588753

and S.P.R.A.W.L.-MMA

3rd floor JN Building, 657 EDSA corner Monte De Piedad Street, Barangay Immaculate Concepcion, Cubao, Quezon City

I shall leave

I shall leave.
And if granted, at most, decades,
or at least, years,
shall look back through years
of debris, rubble, broken things,
wrecked by my leaving.

And to myself
shall say (perhaps without remorse
nor sorrow, after all
their accusations and mine):
Decisions had to be made.
Decisions have to be made.

*  *  *

This blog is sponsored by Limitado

phone nos. 09167840522/ 023588753

and S.P.R.A.W.L.-MMA

3rd floor JN Building, 657 EDSA corner Monte De Piedad Street, Barangay Immaculate Concepcion, Cubao, Quezon City

On depersonalization

"The emotion of art is impersonal. And the poet cannot reach this impersonality without surrendering wholly to the work to be done." -- T.S. Eliot

In fit of jealousy,
don't sit down to write poetry --
storm out that door into
crime of passion.

When jealousy subsides,
go sit down to write a poem --
with no time to waste and
bloodstained shirt on.

*  *  *

This blog is sponsored by Limitado

phone nos. 09167840522/ 023588753

and S.P.R.A.W.L.-MMA

3rd floor JN Building, 657 EDSA corner Monte De Piedad Street, Barangay Immaculate Concepcion, Cubao, Quezon City

Ice water in glass (Tribute to Herman Hesse)

(Photo from www.livestrong.com.)

One encompasses its solid self

that melts into its liquid form

encompassing it; transparent

as the glass holding it

in different forms

becoming one

with the other,

and they have

always

been

one,

are one,

is one.

*  *  *

This blog is sponsored by Limitado

phone nos. 09167840522/ 023588753

and S.P.R.A.W.L.-MMA

3rd floor JN Building, 657 EDSA corner Monte De Piedad Street, Barangay Immaculate Concepcion, Cubao, Quezon City