Virginia Jasmin Pasalo |
You
are in my coffee again
telling me tales
of worker ants swimming
in the desert of Saudi Arabia
telling me tales
of worker ants swimming
in the desert of Saudi Arabia
the
last time I saw you
you were telling me
about soldier ants swimming
in a sea of sugar from Luisita
you were telling me
about soldier ants swimming
in a sea of sugar from Luisita
you
told me
they were all women
the ones who are eager to swim
where there is no water
they were all women
the ones who are eager to swim
where there is no water
you
have many stories
about ants being squeezed
in between fingers
stepped on by big feet
and baked by the sun
about ants being squeezed
in between fingers
stepped on by big feet
and baked by the sun
there
is also one
who ran
and died famished
on the road
now being kissed
by four flies
who ran
and died famished
on the road
now being kissed
by four flies
enough
of your stories
about ants
about ants
I
would like to listen
to a story of one fly
that escaped her death
from the gaping mouth
of a big fish.
to a story of one fly
that escaped her death
from the gaping mouth
of a big fish.
THIS
DAY IS MINE
My
life is really meant
to
be lived like an Atenean
living
for others, they say
but
today
I
will smell anything i want to smell
be
it the intoxicating smell of a flower
or
the smell of an armpit
cursing
with acidity
I
will eat anything i like
even
if it is a roasted pig
trembling
with fat
soft
drinks swimming
in
sugar
or
junk food
like
the words being fed
by
men doing nothing
lying
on soft bed
being
paid on instalment
by
the wife
working
as a domestic helper
in
Saudi Arabia
I
will not think
or
scrimp on the time
I
will spend looking at the vast
space
in the universe
waiting
for stars to fall
or
to watch the lizards
make
love
and
drop exhausted
on
the floor
This
day is mine.
and
mine alone.
DREAMS
ON MOONBEAMS
blood
dripped little by little
and
you, you were oblivious
as
you thrust in between
the
rings and the crevices
unmindful
of the chaos
and
the pain
again,
I held your hand
roughed
from chopping
pinewood
for the bonfire
your
lips, dry and stern
became
softer by the mercy
of
the moonlight
heaven
was in the fire
and
you, burning from all ends
smoldering
with the logs
slowly
turned into ashes
waiting
for a resurrection
the
soothsayer was right
a
moment of bliss
a
plunge into the abyss
never
to ascend
nowhere
to descend
Virginia Jasmin Pasalo is the Executive Director of the International Visitor Leadership
Program-Philippines (IVLP-Phils.) Alumni Foundation. She is also a Commissioner
of the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission (PHCC) and founding
Chairperson of the Women in Development (WID) Foundation. For her extensive and
valuable engagement with women, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo appointed
her as the first representative of the women sector in the Board of Trustees of
the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). Virginia writes prose and
poetry in English, Tagalog, Pangasinan and Ilocano languages, and maintains a
weekly column, “G Spot” with the newspaper Sunday Punch, focusing on women and
the environment. She has authored and edited books on poetry, history, culture
and development and has been recognized and cited for her initiatives in
fostering culture and environmental activism. She has been awarded various
grants and fellowships from several countries. She is a Fellow of the Woodrow
Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA.
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