What’s Next in Mt Cloud? « mtcloudbookshop

What’s Next in Mt Cloud? « mtcloudbookshop

Late Valentine for Miss Puppy Dog Eyes

today an anonymous texter asked me to
"go crazy with cusina post-valentina
--lengua majadera guisado con miriam
habladora with full moon cake"

what was i to make of it?
i couldn't very well tell the sender:
"who's this, please?"
that common question asked
of an unidentified person out there
trying to touch another human
who's steering clear of meat & politics

my tongue itches to taste
soursop newly emerged from the freezer
then allowing you to feel its pockmarked skin

my eyes ache to watch you
chew your carrots reflectively
or your face, that funny face,
grimace at the taste of
out of season mangoes

i'm crazy for the roundness of
your head the size
of a volleyball

i'm mad for the echoes of your
bubbly babbles of
nonsense & some sense

beloved of beloveds
you who has altered
the moon in my destiny
let me have you in
my simple post-valentine menu

--Babeth Lolarga

'Political persecution has no place in a democracy'

from the inbox:

ERICSON ACOSTA is a former editor of the U.P. Philippine Collegian.
He is also known to his peers at the university as a poet, thespian, and songwriter.

He was arrested without warrant by the military on February 13, 2011, in an upland barrio in Samar just because the laptop he carried roused the suspicion of soldiers. He was accompanied by a local barrio official at the time of his arrest, as he was doing human rights work as volunteer researcher of the local peasant group KAPAWA in Western Samar.

We, his family, friends, colleagues and supporters demand nothing less than his immediate and unconditional release. Political persecution and the malevolent criminalization of activists have no place in a democracy.

Ericson’s sense of responsibility as Iskolar ng Bayan has led him to work in the grassroots and create art with the people. Even in detention, Ericson continues to craft poetry and songs, highlighting the plight of political prisoners in the country.

Respect for human rights is an indication of the government’s resolve to genuinely serve the people. Political prisoners are rights advocates whose bid for a more humane society is twisted and distorted in the hands of state discourse. Ericson Acosta’s right to participate productively as a free citizen of this country is violated each day he remains in detention. A year after his illegal arrest, we enjoin all freedom-loving Filipinos to defend human rights and to usher in peace based on justice.

FREE THE ARTIST!
FREE ERICSON ACOSTA!
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!


SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION FOR ERICSON ACOSTA'S IMMEDIATE RELEASE
at CHANGE.ORG

Licad sports new look in electrifying Texas, New Mexico concerts

Licad sports new look in electrifying Texas, New Mexico concerts

Tulips Two Lips

a valentine for kimi & kai

tulips tulips
let me have those two lips

six spread in pots
two on a babe

how to multiply
flowers & kisses
just you wait

let me have your two lips
a pair so tender so small
feels like quiet rain
when my cheeks it grazes

here come the tulips the tulips
orange in the sun
your two lips two lips
pursed for kissing fun

when i sing point to
the tulips, two lips
let confusion run

let's invite the sun
to kiss the tulips plus
your lip one & lip two

true lips all mine

--Babeth Lolarga

Photos by Kimi Fernandez

Surviving the Kitchen Sink

i cannot & will not make
a roll of morcon as good
as my mother does
nor simmer soothingly
a pot of mechado as lip-smacking
as my husband does
but i can thoroughly wash tomatoes
whose bottoms are as round
as half-moons of my toes
dice red apples as crisp
as baguio weather in december
slice bell peppers as green
as the sheen of leaves after a rainfall

with a slightly steady hand i can paint
stones pebbles the lips of broken jars
but i cannot arrange
them into an artful still life
for the landscaping skills i do not possess,

through a game of evasion
i have survived
the sorrows of the kitchen sink.

let me not name them
let me instead paint
with this unsteady hand
the contours of the vegetable basket's contents
for here with my acquired vocabulary of acrylics
i have found a pocket of peaces
discovered the strategies of strawberries
tasted the temperance of tomatoes
empathized with once chaste chayotes
now plucked from the vine
& lain on a bulging pillow of bell peppers.

--Babeth Lolarga

first published in Malaya, May 14, 2007

The same poem was also exhibited alongside the author's works at her first solo show of acrylic, watercolor and ink paintings at Gallery Nine, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City, made possible by the artists' collective Salakai under master sculptor Jerry Araos.

all photos taken by Gigi Lolarga

Thank you, Teacher

Thank you, Teacher

Roz in the Twilight

in memory of rosalinda m. galang *

she said, her grin elfin & wide,
"come in," & armed with her gentle summons,
we hacked away
a decade of apartness.

pleased with the clearing we had made,
we tarried over tea
& let more stories flow unbidden,
our giggles rise up unsuppressed.

at sundown talk veered towards
the quiet of churches & chapels,
the amber light cast
by melting candlesticks

& how aspirant souls
would seek the imperturbable stillness
that sometimes evaded those who dared
to upturn the world imperfect
or to ride the swells of inner upheaval.

this last of her battles
was even more ferociously fought.
her enemies--time the tyrant
& the physical rot
that would eventually claim us all.

spitting & coughing,
gasping & croaking,
but also laughing & smiling,
rejoicing & cheering us on,

she stooped one morning,
conquered & entered triumphant
the vast fastness of eternity.


--Babeth Lolarga

First published in Philippine Graphic, November 10, 2003
but originally turned over to Ricardo Reyes, husband to Roz, on the last night of her wake in 1998.


* Roz Galang was described by the Philippine Daily Inquirer as "a leading and steady light of resistance journalism during the martial law years." She died of cancer in 1998.

Photos of church interior and sunset from a Facebook community page