Sa Pagkikitang Tayo Lang Ang May Alam

Nakakahon ang lahat
Ng hiningi kong isauli mo sa akin:

Sapatos na madalas mong hinihiram,
T-shirt na may statement
Na hindi mo maintindihan,
Relong iniregalo ng tiyahin
Na unang nakaalam
Tungkol sa ating dalawa,
At photobook ng sandosenang gala.

Nakasiksik sa pagi-pagitan ng mga ito
Ang pira-pirasong bubog
Ng daan-daang alaalang
Nasa ‘yo pa pala. Samantala,
Narito ang sobreng paglalagyan sana
Ng pagpapatawad ko.

Pero walang laman ‘yan.

Natuto na kasi akong
Huwag magbigay
Sa hindi humihingi.

On taking photos

R: I only take photos of the important things in my life.

Me: *snaps her picture* Same. 😏

Ode to Laswa

Few things show affection better than a home-cooked meal prepared with care and devotion. And in this part of the world, there’s a reason why Iloilo is known as the City of Love. Before all the “touristy places” popped up around here, visitors were usually just treated to food --- plenty of it! We’d bring you to Tatoy’s for lechon, to La Paz market for batchoy, or to Villa Baybay for talaba.

Of course, if you were really special, you’d be fed at home --- with chicken binakol, or KBL (kadyos, baboy, langka), or milkfish sinigang soured with batwan. But if an Ilonggo or Ilongga truly loved you, and I mean TRULY loved you, you’d be treated to LASWA, a very simple vegetable soup dish prepared by the best cook in the village, with THE INDAY of the house (i.e., the Madam / Mamita / Donya / Grand Matriarch) overseeing the process. You’d be told, “Pasensya ka na, laswa lang maserbe namon.”

But then you will quickly realize that the disclaimer is a big, fat lie. It is not laswa LANG. Because as you take spoonful after spoonful of the pale green mixture of malunggay, patola, and stock, you will feel a warmth enveloping your heart, like a hundred magical hands putting back the broken pieces together again, you will be reacquainted with the happiest memories of your childhood, when your own mother, or tita or lola cooked your favorite meal. You will be humbled, and you will have tasted love like you haven’t tasted it before. Surely, after you’ve left Iloilo, you will taste many other soup dishes again in your life, but never as good as the laswa that you were served in an Ilonggo’s home.

First 250

[Author's note: First <250 words of a work-in-progress. A novel, maybe? We'll see.]

Biyernes. Alas dos y medya nang madaling-araw.

Ibig sabihin, Sabado na pala.

Ang dapat na ginagawa ko ngayon: natutulog.

Ang dapat na hindi ko ginagawa: binabalikan ang daan-daang palitan ng mga text messages namin ni Jaya.

Pero ganun yata talaga. Gagawin ng katawan ang luyag ng puso, lalo pa’t wala sa wisyo ang katawan at nagpupuyos ang damdamin. At mga alaala ni Jaya ang hinahanap ng aking kasingkasing. Mahirap bigyan ng paliwanag ang katawang hindi makaintindi kung bakit ngayon pa nito napiling magpuyat. Kung kailan ilang oras na lamang ay kukuha na ako ng UPCAT.

Huling paalala ng teacher namin sa huling session ng review ang sinasabi ng lahat ng “exam tips” na nabasa ko: siguraduhing makatutulog nang maigi bago kumuha ng UPCAT kinabukasan.

Sabado, 2:47 nang madaling araw.

Shit.

Kung bakit naman kasi pinili pang makipagbreak sa akin ni Jaya the day before the most important exam of our lives.

Shit shit shit.

Bakit nga ba, Jaya?

Shit.

Sabado, 5:45 ng umaga.

ANO BA THERESE? HINDI KA PA BA GIGISING? TANGHALI NA!

Sanay na ako sa pabulyaw na panggising ng Nanay ko. Pero naramdaman ko pa ring umikot ang mundo ko nang bigla akong bumangon.

Shit shit shit.

Ala sais y medya ang schedule ko sa exam.

Relaks ka lang, Therese. Sabado ngayon. Walang traffic. Kayang-kaya mong makarating sa school in 20 minutes. May time ka pang maligo. Maligo ka. Kunin mo yung saging sa ibabaw ng mesa para may laman ang tiyan mo.

#BoughtBooks2017

I have been on a book-buying spree this year, spending much of my hard-earned money on glorious, glorious books, and not regretting it at all (although I think I really should set a budget for 2018. Haha!).

Here are the books so far.

1. All that Darkness Allows (Multiple Authors)
2. Drift (Written by Nald Tabuzo, Illustrated by Godley Malabanan)
3. Nuno sa Puso 1 & 2 (Bebang Siy)
4. My True Love Gave To Me (Edited by Stephanie Perkins)
5. Tall Story (Candy Gourlay)
6. Every Day (David Levithan)
7. Queens of Geek (Jen Wilde)
8. Tipping the Velvet (Sarah Waters)
9. A Treat of 100 Short Stories (Edited by Gerardo Torres)
10. Laglag-Panty, Laglag-Brief (Edited by Rolando Tolentino, Romulo Baquiran Jr., Joi Barrios, Mykel Andrada)
11. Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America (Edited by Cecilia Brainard)
12. The Best of A. Lipin (Jess Abrera)
13. Nimona (Noelle Stevenson)
14. Pinocchio (Story by Carlo Collodi, Illustrated by Francesca Rossi)
15. The Land of Forgotten Girls (Erin Entrada Kelly)
16. Miss Lina's Ballerina (Story by Grace Maccarone, Illustrated by Christine Davenier)
17. Without Annette (Jane B. Mason)
18. It's Not Like It's a Secret (Misa Sugiura)
19. Eleanor & Park (Rainbow Rowell)
20. The Communist Manifesto (Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels)
21. Why We Broke Up (Written by Daniel Handler, Art by Maira Kalman)
22. Looking for Alaska (Story by John Green, Translated by Julz Riddle)
23. By the Light of My Father's Smile (Alice Walker)
24. We Were Liars (E. Lockhart)
25. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Benjamin Alire Saenz)
26. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Becky Albertalli)

Audio Recordings of Excerpts from Kasingkasing Press Titles (Part 2)

In 2015, Kasingkasing Press launched 15 books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry by Western Visayan writers. Below are voice recordings of excerpts from these titles.

Audio Recordings of Excerpts from Kasingkasing Press Titles (Part 1)

In 2015, Kasingkasing Press launched 15 books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry by Western Visayan writers. Below are voice recordings of excerpts from these titles.