Release

Scarce:
the ideas cavorting inside
the mind; even more deficient
are the echoes of waves surging
against the chest (struggling to break free
from being tightly bound)
to relieve

stomach cramps

do not always induce excretion
or indicate that there’s something to release
other than a gust of gas that’s

nauseating

is the anticipation – poised on the seat
of emptiness: a cigarette dying out
in the interim of musings;
a tabloid severely crumpled – writhing
in constipated anguish to force-unload
secrets that have been rotting

inside the belly

an uproar has been started by all
the swallowed profundities, the souring
is ominous of the looming
defecation that’s worse than birthing in

pain

will draw barren tears
from a stagnant well deepened by faith in

tomorrow

my pen’s ink may finally
explode.

30 January 2009
– final draft of Pagpaparaos’ translation in English
– recently published in UP Quill’s 17th folio, Sitting Amok: Ganito Kami Umibig (This is How We Love)