Poetry&Stuffby
MARNE KILATES
MARNE
S
KRIPTS
from
Antinostalgia & the Tokhang
Rhapsodies
from
Antinostalgia & the Tokhang
Rhapsodies
From Mga Biyahe, Mga Estasyon
From Journeys, Junctions
(a collection of travel poems)
from
Antinostalgia & the Tokhang
Rhapsodies
Poems 2022
Poems 2022
Poems 2022
Poems 2022
From Mga Biyahe, Mga Estasyon
From Journeys, Junctions
(a collection of travel poems)
From Mga Biyahe, Mga Estasyon
From Journeys, Junctions
(a collection of travel poems)
From Mga Biyahe, Mga Estasyon
From Journeys, Junctions
(a collection of travel poems)
From Mga Biyahe, Mga Estasyon
From Journeys, Junctions
(a collection of travel poems)
From Mga Biyahe, Mga Estasyon
From Journeys, Junctions
(a collection of travel poems)
From Mga Biyahe, Mga Estasyon
From Journeys, Junctions
(a collection of travel poems)
From Mga Biyahe, Mga Estasyon
From Journeys, Junctions
(a collection of travel poems)
Bobotante
Our double syllables
Condemn them doubly
By the language and arrogance
Of our class—the powers
That have long condemned
Them to ignorance and would
Keep them there.
Oh, that they
Sell their democratic birthright
Has already cursed them
And their numbers,
We say smugly,
And the whole nation
Is kept in stitches
Or on its knees by the elected
Clowns and thieves
Who keep feeding on their
Desperation and gullibility.
Immaculate in our
Suits and gowns, in our
Barongs of piña and silk
And university education,
We condemn them further
In our impeccable English
In our researches and surveys
As our clans and families
And our whole genealogies
Keep them
​
Forever in debt
And indentured to our
Charity and munificence
As we pay them morsels
And loose change
In our farms and factories
For their votes.
Thus fed
And kept in chains, they bow
Deeper, addicted to our
Selfless charity.
Thus fed and kept
In chains, no sacred democratic
Election will ever redeem them
From their perpetual poverty.
22 June 2015
Bagong Taon (New Year) by Virgilio Labial