hay taga-uma takun

Makalilingaw magpamaluskay ka mga sinulatan kauna... here's another English poem inspired by the colors of taramnanan kun tig-irinit man ukon tig-ururan.

A Close Shot

26 June 2000

New sprung palay

a few weeks old

in the countryside

in their yellowish-green glory

is the closest picture I have

of the spring

white poets sang

(whose names

my brown tongue must wrestle)

that I only read in books.

I have no problems

in picturing summer

when I’m sweating cats and dogs

though sometimes

it is not too easy

to blot out the rain

when it insists

to drizzle with the sun.

The picture of autumn

varies from tree to tree

but when the leaves

are all shed

usually that tree

is considered dead.

As for winter

the nearest picture I have

is when I visit the city

at Christmas time

when malls

adorned themselves

with styro-snow.