In Spite of/ In the Light of
In spite of/ in the light of
the ugly spite of the mob
you inspire. That’s the way
it should be, your cool,
cool upbringing
says. The weather now is rolling fast
like a formula one race car
with a drug crazed driver,
yet in spite of/ in the light of
it you laze at a park of a city
gunned by the setting
Manila sun.
There’s a call center job that
in spite of/in the light of
a vulture boss asking you to tweet like a meadowlark
from Salt Lake City
you persevere hard. Well,
I understand fully, it’s your call.
Just like my pendulum pen
pressing on and
in spite of/in the light of
this puzzle if it’s prose or poetry
I like best, it continues to swing
to and fro, to and fro, never really.
Tenement
See, it weeps too, the old paint spilling down from windows
like tears at nights as the moon
lights a mayhem of juvenile sins. This tenement laments.
Sitting on a lunatic’s lap on a non-invented night I see
two lights blink as one shuts dead; four lights juggle
as three lights bungle.
This tenement is secretive, its windows looking at a flamingo city
that flies high like bikini clad teens in billboards.
I imagine its plight. Inside pale rooms maybe a father
with an empty crocodile leather wallet is hanging in a room, or balustrades
don’t want to let go of a lousy lover
hooked to liquor as if it’s old school humor.
Or maybe a pig-tailed teen is fitting in
that wedding dress that might need a post wedding tearing.
Soon it’s 9 p.m. and almost all the lights inside blast
and this tenement looks like a skeleton in a ratty hospital.
I sense the furor inside, I sense the foul odor, I sense the red
anticipation. So I sneak in see rope hanging by whom you’ll never know
see gripped balustrades by whom you’ll never know see the
sixteen year old disguised as eighteen you’ll never know
who. But I fit in, and maybe you too
if you also write a poem about this filthy tenement, which cements.
AMADEO M. MENDOZA's poems have been published in Philippines Free Press, Philippine Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, Likhaan; and his short stories have appeared in Philippines Graphic and The Manila Times. He is currently finishing his MA in Creative Writing at the University of Santo Tomas.
In spite of/ in the light of
the ugly spite of the mob
you inspire. That’s the way
it should be, your cool,
cool upbringing
says. The weather now is rolling fast
like a formula one race car
with a drug crazed driver,
yet in spite of/ in the light of
it you laze at a park of a city
gunned by the setting
Manila sun.
There’s a call center job that
in spite of/in the light of
a vulture boss asking you to tweet like a meadowlark
from Salt Lake City
you persevere hard. Well,
I understand fully, it’s your call.
Just like my pendulum pen
pressing on and
in spite of/in the light of
this puzzle if it’s prose or poetry
I like best, it continues to swing
to and fro, to and fro, never really.
Tenement
See, it weeps too, the old paint spilling down from windows
like tears at nights as the moon
lights a mayhem of juvenile sins. This tenement laments.
Sitting on a lunatic’s lap on a non-invented night I see
two lights blink as one shuts dead; four lights juggle
as three lights bungle.
This tenement is secretive, its windows looking at a flamingo city
that flies high like bikini clad teens in billboards.
I imagine its plight. Inside pale rooms maybe a father
with an empty crocodile leather wallet is hanging in a room, or balustrades
don’t want to let go of a lousy lover
hooked to liquor as if it’s old school humor.
Or maybe a pig-tailed teen is fitting in
that wedding dress that might need a post wedding tearing.
Soon it’s 9 p.m. and almost all the lights inside blast
and this tenement looks like a skeleton in a ratty hospital.
I sense the furor inside, I sense the foul odor, I sense the red
anticipation. So I sneak in see rope hanging by whom you’ll never know
see gripped balustrades by whom you’ll never know see the
sixteen year old disguised as eighteen you’ll never know
who. But I fit in, and maybe you too
if you also write a poem about this filthy tenement, which cements.
AMADEO M. MENDOZA's poems have been published in Philippines Free Press, Philippine Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, Likhaan; and his short stories have appeared in Philippines Graphic and The Manila Times. He is currently finishing his MA in Creative Writing at the University of Santo Tomas.
