Nagtago ang mga parilya sa kalupaan
Habang sila'y kusang nagpahimlay sa pagsisilbing lakas t tuntungan
Siguro, naisip din nilang ayos lang mapasailalim
Kung ito nama'y marangal at bubuo sa bukas at ngayon.

Habang sila'y sama-samang ipinagbibigkis
Ay mas lalo silang nakatatamo ng sugat mula sa isa't isa
Hindi nila ininda ang dumi o kahit na ang agos
Na posibleng yumurak sa kanilang mga pagkatao.

Sa aking pagtingala mula sa pagkasisid sa kalaliman ng kanilang mga adhikain
Ay nasasaksihan ko ang pag-usad ng mas matitibay pang haligi
Na dito sa ating baya'y may iilan ding tunay na tatayo
At nanaising maging tuntungan ng iba para sa higit na pagsulyap sa araw
Sila'y kapit-bisig sa pag-aalay ng dugo't pawis
Para sa ikuunlad ng kabuuan.

At unti-unting mahuhulog na tila nagkakalansingang mga barya
Ang mga may buo ang loob.
At sa pagbibilang ko ng mga araw ay walang pakundangan silang magiging isa
At malilimot na rin ng iilan na minsan, sila'y may pagkakaiba --
Na minsan, sila'y pinulot at hinugasan
At ngayon sila'y nagbago mula sa pagiging kupas na larawan.

No one's gonna come

looking for you under a rock

don't have
such luck
                       wishful waiting won't pick
                you up
for someone to love
you give them something to love
        if you always hide away
                     no one will know what you got
Think it's time to shake
                           up
this place


                           paint yourself
fill up the space
might go against
      every ounce
of your self worth
but
                   if what your worth
               is worth it

                                     GIVE IT
a chance.

           Blind them all.

tune into your heart
that will listen and beat
from where it belongs;
the true winner
of  love and compassion
you, who always engage by
sweet despair memory
channel with the energy
that flows like a river

I submerged myself from the restfulness of the sea
the singing echo of bubbles
and marine lives waved at me
the time just stopped
it was a portal to a different world

watch yourself float and savour the placidity
I then asked myself
'is this what really is home to me?'

Disgusted, and saddened
Vicki’s poetry (and kindness) is an absolute inspiration
She was one of the first (along with Mary, Pradip and WK) to take the time to read and comment on my mediocre work...a jolt every aspiring poet needs
If you are listening Vicki...God bless you

I am an oxymoron waiting to happen.
A contradiction of me.
Smiling for others
While inside I frown at myself.
I love others, why not me?
Am I the Frankenstein or the monster?
The creator or the beast..or both.
The strong person for others
while secretly afraid..of life.
Massaging others egos
while mine begs for help.
I have helped many
but can't help myself.
Therein lies the truth
do I have my self ?
or does my self hurt me.
The oxymoron...is me.

the green grove a magnet to my eye
on these sun baked plains

I enter the glade to take shade with the cicadas
and vampire mosquitos

then I see it, Eden’s villain, coiled and rattling,
red ready to strike

I raise my staff, I too programmed to survive, do to what millennia
have taught

still we are in this staring standoff—silent save its rattle, deaf
I am to the chorus of insects

neither of us moves for an eternity of seconds, until the snake lunges at my feet

where its fangs find a field mouse, and devour it while I watch, an unwitting witness to expiry other than my own  

I leave the copse, whole, content another creature has, for today, taken my place in the bloodletting