It's Snowing in Manila

"The snow is always falling in 'Fargo,' cloaking the world in metaphysical confusion." - Jessica Zafra

The militant chided the child for singing "White Christmas" when the longest Christmas season
isn't white, in the absence of snow in these parts. (The movement would not give its imprimatur.)

But it gets almost-white cold up in Baguio City. But snowflakes allegedly fell in some parts 

of Metro Manila, said the news. And there's Snow World in Star City amusement park.

Suddenly, snow falls and cloaks Manila in meteorological confusion; the street children 

begin inhaling more feverishly, setting the mean streets and themselves on fire.

Soon, snowmen start throwing corpseballs at each other, across frozen feces-strewn streets  

unfamiliar with swathes of ice, now covering the familiar (and multiplying) burnt flesh.

The whole world winters; its entirety imagines, suffers, and melts with the snow... 

just as it realizes, and burns with, the fires of hell in the here and now.

*  *  *

Check out My Personal Anthology (12 Poems). 

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

Si Tado, ang Masunurin at Responsableng Apo ng Kanyang Lola (Alangan Namang Siya’y Apo ng Kanyang Nanay)

Ang post na ito ay ang aking tribute sa first death anniversary ng isang kasama, kaibigan at brod: si Arvin Jimenez aka Tado (March 24, 1974 – February 7, 2014). Palagi ka naming maaalala't ipagpupugay, kasama!

Tinawagan ako ng kaibigan kong si Tado noong last quarter ng 2012. Sumulat daw ako ng kahit ano tungkol sa kanya, isasama daw niya iyon sa isang libro na koleksiyon ng mga ala-ala ng mga kakilala niya kung sakaling namayapa na siya. Natuwa naman ako sa konsepto. At bilang kaibigan, mabilis din naman akong nakatugon sa request niya. Dahil mahina ang memorya ko, may mga kasama kami sa student movement noong 1990's na nakalimutan ko na ang mga pangalan, kaya mali ang pag identify ko sa isa sa kanila doon sa unang kopya na sinabmit ko kay Tado. Pagtapos kong magtanong-tanong at napa-alala ulit sa akin ang tamang pangalan, inedit ko ang draft at nagsabmit ng second at final draft. In-acknowledge naman niya ang huling kopya. Kaya bagamat proud naman ako noong makabili ng kopya ng aklat niyang Bio-Eulogy, may disappointment din ako at di niya pala naihabol yung pangalawa't pinal na anecdote ko -- yung may maling first draft ang na-publish. Pabirong may hinanakit na sinita ko siya noon, pero natawa na lamang siya at nagsabi na, "Mabilisan na, eh." Mabilis naman talaga si Tado sa maraming bagay, kasama na doon ang guerilla publishing, hehe. Eniwey, tunay na karangalan pa rin naman sa akin na masama doon sa anthology, at malagay pangalan ko doon sa back cover. Ang sumusunod ang di naihabol na final draft ng aking anecdote kay Tado (sa ibang salita, "This it how it should've appeared"):

Ang Masunurin at Responsableng Apo ng Kanyang Lola (Alangan Namang Siya’y Apo ng Kanyang Nanay)

Tag-init ng 1996 noong makasama ko si Tado nang magdamag sa isang safe house sa Subic, Zambales sa isang pagpupulong ng mga miyembro  ng youth sector ng Kilusan ng Kristiyanong Kabataan (KKK). Mala-martial law ang palakad ng mga Gordon sa umuunlad na Subic noon. (Pagkatapos nilang humagulgol at maglupasay sa paghangad na manatili ang base militar ng mga Kano sa bakuran nila habangbuhay, eh kaya naman pala nilang magsarili’t paunlarin ang malawak na baybaying iyon.) At taimtim naming ipinagdarasal sa aming fellowship, na pinangungunahan ni Pastor John Bayarong, na nawa’y huwag namang makompromiso ang kalayaan sa pagpapahayag at karapatang pantao ng mga mamamayan doon, lalo na’t host ang munisipyong yaon sa 4th APEC Leaders' Summit bago matapos ang taon.

Sa kalagitnaan ng aming bible study, ay bigla na lamang sumirit sa pagsinga ang sinisipon na si Tado sa laylayan ng kanyang suot na t-shirt. Kaya naman siya’y napuna ng aming sister na si Jojo Arias, na noo’y kasalukuyang chairperson ng PUP-Sta. Mesa student council.

Sister Jojo: “Hoy, Tado! Ang laki-laki mo na, sumisinga ka pa sa damit mo. Kadiri ka!”

Brother Tado: “Noong bata ako, pinagbabawalan ako ng aking lola na suminga sa aking damit, ngayong malaki na ako, pwede na!”

Ayan si Tado, magalang sa nakatatanda, at patunay nito ang kanyang pagiging masunurin sa kanyang mahal na lola. Ngunit, siya rin ay lumaking responsable at independiyente, na kayang magdesisyon para sa kanyang sarili nang hindi na kailangang gabayan ng ibang tao.

Iyan ang magiging aral at pamana ni Tado sa kabataang Pilipino, sa mga susunod na henerasyon ng ating magiting na lahi: Ang kalayaang makapagsarili at magdesisyon kung sisinga sa suot na damit—o hindi.

Tulad ng Subic na ngayo’y malaya’t tinatamasa ang kaunlaran paglipas ng dalawang dekada noong nilisan ito ng dating mala-sipong lagkit at kapit ng dating Subic Bay Naval Base.

*  *  *

At heto naman yung lumang article ko tungkol sayo at sa racket natin ni Kasamang Alvin Ruas: Tado hosts “X-sena: Just Like the OId Days” X Games and tattoo event at QC!

Tol, tinutupad ko pa rin usapan natin noon, na "sponsor" ka ng blog na ito, hehe.

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

Filipino Catholics in a Passenger Jeep

The rickety jeep passed by the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 

and five of us seven passengers began making 

the sign of the cross, hurriedly --

more Quadrate or Square, more Greek than Latin: 

forehead, chest, shoulder, shoulder

-- executed somewhere between 

force of habit, and genuine 

expression of faith.

*  *  *

Check out My Personal Anthology (12 Poems). 

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

Unfaithful You

And still, all your tenuous "assurances"
(if we may call them that),
calm me down somehow,
inassuredly.

*  *  *

Check out My Personal Anthology (12 Poems). 

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

In vain

When it's not meant to be, hanging on to forever 
is clinging to the blade of a dagger, 
to stall  your fall...

*  *  *

Check out My Personal Anthology (12 Poems).

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

Bill Clinton and Neil Armstrong's moon rock

From former US president Bill Clinton's autobiography "My Life, Volume II: The Presidential Years":

On my last night (as president)* in the now barren Oval Office, I thought of the glass case I had kept on the coffee table between the two couches, just a few feet away. It contained a rock Neil Armstrong had taken off the moon in 1969. Whenever arguments in the Oval Office heated up beyond reason, I would interrupt and say, "You see that rock? It's 3.6 billion years old. We're all just passing through. Let's calm down and go back to work."

That moon rock gave me a whole different perspective on history and the proverbial "long run." Our job is to live as well and as long as we can, and to help others to do the same. What happens after that and how we are viewed by others is beyond our control. The river of time carries us all away. All we have is the moment."

Again, "All we have is the moment." ;)

*Insertion mine. 

(Here's a replica of Clinton's Oval Office, and of the moon rock in the glass display case, at the Clinton Presidential Center. Photo from David Wagoner's Wags Outside's blog post "Little Rock Oval Office.") 

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

Exercises in Futility

Been running fifty meter dashes and ramming my head against the wall,
just to get you out of my head...

Been doing ten-feet-high dolphin dives and thudding on the floor,
just to get you out of my heart...

Before I forget, I'm dead!

*  *  *

Check out My Personal Anthology (12 Poems).

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