Saturday, June 9, 2012

'Ambo' & the Missing Family of Spiders

"Two S. Koreans swept away in Philippine river" 
 "Three dead, six missing as typhoon passes Philippines"
--Headlines from www.ph.msn.com, June 6, 2012

we in our isolation thought
the fog & ceaseless rains
merely meant summer's end
& the start of the monsoon
that meant laundry would take longer to dry

although others said typhoon "ambo"
didn't quite hit land
& dissipated in the seas
& what we were feeling were
its weak formation

the nuisance of a weather kept us indoors
where we waited for word when power would resume
where we couldn't stop fumbling
in the dark for matches or batteries
for the one & only flashlight in a rattling house

when "ambo" exited the country
the shy sun rose slowly over the bamboo grove
& cast light on corners of the balcony's iron bars
where we usually arrange the laundry
on dozens of individual clothes hangers

there on a corner of every bar
clung deceptively frail spiders' cobwebs
i wondered where the mama spiders
evacuated their babies at the height of the storm?
their homes were intact
glittering in the morning mist

& once again in my middle age
with two daughters all grown up
i cried over beauty & frailty

just as intact were the last red blossoms
of the 'ber months' poinsettia 
huddled in pots
intact in the sense that the pots
didn't tumble & spill out their contents
at the height of the lashing rains

a day later i read about people swept away,
fisher folks most probably,
but it was so like me
to worry about the family
of spiders who were my family's counterparts
in the world of fauna & wondered if they were
also washed away by the year's first storm

--Babeth Lolarga
 June 9, 2012
 11: 27 a.m.

Photos by Babeth Lolarga

1 comment:

luzramil said...

I enjoyed your poem. Today June 11, 2012 is Kamehameha Day holiday in Hawaii. We watched the replay of Miss Hawaii on tv. Skyler Kamaka won. Miss Cheape, Miss Hawaii 2011 is running for State Rep. in Oahu. aloha,tootz