Melissa

In a square inch panel,
We watch her die.
The bushy man pinions her pelvis
to the crimsoned floor.
His barbed thighs
cleave at milky, supple skin,
as his insolent tongue probes,
prods, and trespasses.

Frayed between bones and concrete,
We hear her screams.
Muted by the same
technology that bestowed us 3G,
stayed the specter of AIDS,
and cloned an unsuspecting sheep.
The bushy man snickers, while he squeezes
the twine that stifles her hands.

A peppery liquid fell
From the crack.
With nothing to scratch, she cut
into her palms.
Wishing pain could subdue cruelty.
Wishing she bleeds dry.
 
Outside, the shadows descend
on the Arabian desert. The breeze hip-hops
and tangos over the soil.
Cold toes kissing blisters as it carpets
silhouetted avenues.
A spattering of laughter
awakens the night.  

The  throbbing rod
Pushes inside her.
Inexorable in its single-minded purpose.  
The ache streaks in concentric
pattern from her loins to
her skull, consuming the air around her.
Corrupted by that single thrust,
the climax of all fairy tale stories
abruptly impeded by the words
“they lived happily ever after,”
as the princess falls
to the arms of her prince.
His foul breath treaded on the promise
To the love she left behind.
Her body knew nobody,
yet callused hands now  
Sullies her neck, breasts, navel.
 
As the bushy man thrusts,
She remembers Jun-jun who has
school fees due next week.
 
As the bushy man thrusts,
An image of Mama flashes,
her drooping breasts no longer
holds the juice of life that
sustained all her seven children
even as hunger ravished her
once-lithe arms.

Of the days when they slept with the firewood
remained unlit.
As famished tears blended with the piss
and sweat on the mattress.

Of rendezvousing politicians,
the legs of their pretty mistresses
high up in the air
in homage to his manhood,
in reverence to his pockets
as Inang Filipina,
her flag-like frock
scrunched up to her waist,
get sodomized from behind.
Over and over.

The bushy man ejaculates.
Her belly contracted to deny
an unfamiliar progeny
of dunes and black gold.
She senses it
Shooting up from her vagina,
to her cervix and to
God knows where.
She hears belt being buckled
as she huddles in a
fetal position,
closing her eyes tightly
in supplication to
the diety who ditched her:
"Please,don't let me
bear his child."

From somewhere,

she hears his fading footsteps.
The paved floor creates
a different resonance
from the bamboo slits back home,
upsetting a memory.
Of her mama walking slowly
away after tucking her to bed as
the treacherous bamboo floor
always stirs up the cat.

She reaches out for
the sheets to wash herself
of him, knowing it's
pointless.
She could still smell
The bushy man's stench
from yesterday.

And tomorrow.
Tomorrow, his friends will come.

No longer will she feel
an innocent kiss.
No longer will she welcome
a fleeting touch without cringing.

P.S.

To "Melissa" who got raped by a fucking Arab in Saudi: You don't know me and I seriously doubt you will ever get to read this but I'm sorry for the nightmare that you're in and for your dreams that we trampled. Vice President Noli de Castro already instructed officials in the Philippine embassy in Saudi to come rescue you. Could you please make way for them? They need space to bend over and pull down their pants as they allow your rapist to butt-fuck them again for the chance to send more like you to their deaths. Oh, did you know your favorite government officials are investigating how you managed to get there? Seems like it's going to be your fault why you got raped.

A stranger walked…

A stranger walked solitary.
As the sharp edges of the
Sunset wounds the sky,
Casting a fiery shadow;
Tainting the horizon
With blood— painting it scarlet.

The remorseful sun
Inconspicuously hiding
Behind mountains benighted.
Hoping no one notices its crime.

The wave’s orgasmic sighs,
As they make love to the
Sandy beach, drown
Dusk’s screams;
And the nightingale’s songs
Muffled the sun’s hasty steps
As he makes his escape.

Nobody notices the transgression.
Not least the stranger —
Who’s presently revolted
By the mud silts clinging
To his pants as he makes
His way to the disco next town.

Where have all my friendships gone?

Where have all my friendships gone?
I remember here in this same mound of earth,
Roots scalped by the sun, that we made our promises.
When all of our principles, dreams, passions,
Eccentricities, convictions, were shaped
By our gullibility in fairy tales and
Happy endings.

You are somewhere now, forever
Slaying your own dragons.
I remember you crying when you learned
Not all tales have a happy ending.
I tasted your tears and your sweat dampened
My old shirt you used to love.
Your prince wounded your heart and I stood helpless
Knowing I can do no more.

I was no hero to your eyes.
I recall our conversations mostly revolved
around your prince. His absence dominated the room
And his company spelled my obscurity.
I never recognized his mediocrity,
Seen through the distorted image
Created by your eyes.

I still have that shirt. That old shirt you used to love.
Still stained by your aches.
It doesn’t fit me anymore.
The sleeves now remain unyielding.

You know, I’ve grown now.
I’m not the same naïve and lanky young man
You used to tease and protect.
I’ve known tears, laughter, ridicule, admiration, love and scorn.
I fashioned my own principles, destination
Convictions, aspirations and purpose.

My hands have callused, hardened by toil.
My heart had been torn and mended countless times.
The scars had disfigured it so much that I doubt if you
Could distinguish my heart among a thousand others.

The night holds no allure now. She can’t seduce me anymore.
The air had stilled and each breath has become a struggle.
It’s moments like this, when each second
Seemed an eternity,
Dripping ever so slowly
Like beads of water
From a leaking faucet,
That I wonder,
Whether you still think of the vows
We made ages ago,

I wonder,

Have you found your prince yet?
In your eyes, I was no hero,
But I’ve grown now
And that old shirt that you used to love
Is now in the closet
Not anymore soiled by your tears
But by dust and disregard.

Wedges

A solitary flower,
With wilted petals
And yellow
Parched leaves,
Reared its fragile
Head from
A wedge
In the concrete
Floor
Of the waiting shed.

Up from its
Darkened bed
To greet
A lifetime’s shade—

The roof
That shields the
Indifferent brows
Of men
From the sun’s
Searing rays.

Seeming calm

Seeming calm
Passed over
The half-closed lids
Of dreamers.

Spread-eagled,
Naked to the warm earth,
The sun singed
All resolve and
Struggles,
They lay content.
The wind carried
Their laughter and screams,
Buffered by the waves’ own,
To ocean depths,

To the memories of past oceans,
To the stories of past generations,
To the laughter and tears
Of mothers, brothers, grandfathers,
Farmers, seafarers, gulls,
Herons, and seabirds,

To the laughter and tears
Of would-be dreamers.

Release me

Release me of your love.
It has ceased to be my freedom.
It has now become a cold, damp prison
With a small windowsill,
Providing a peek of the
Endless fields outside
Where I used to run unbound.

Release me of your love.
Your smile now begets intense grief.
Tugging at the part of my heart
Where before the corners of your mouth
Reign and control like the gods.

I look myself through your eyes
And I could no longer see
That brawny and virile man
Who tamed Titans
And broke hurricanes
With his strength.

You’ve reduced me
To ordinariness.

The golden sword I used to yield
And swing with reckless abandon
Is now just a dull blade.
And my shield, which shone like
A thousand suns,
Has now blunted.

Release me of your love.
Leave me to my mortality
Fly away…

Fly away and
Don’t look back.

Conceal your eyes from me
So I won’t glimpse that
Brawny and virile man
Who tamed Titans
And broke hurricanes
With his strength.

The Movie

I admit the movie was bad,
And the audio was even worse.
But they’re not the reasons I went out.
Even though I couldn’t sleep
From the icy breath

Of the air conditioner
Nipping at
my tendons.

I would have endured that.

But when I hear your shallow
Breath beside me and feel
You cringe when my fingertips
Graze your cold skin
And lean away
From me…

I had to go.
I had to breathe.

Your fear pains me so.