Montage Vol. 9 • February 2006
To wherever your feet carry you
By Sharline J. Bareng
“…in the mind of a woman for whom no place is home, the thought of an end to all flight is unbearable.” - Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
TO CONFESS an inability to do a lot of traveling, in the same way that one can read only a few books or produce only a few modest works is a shame, especially in this age when everything is doable and nothing is a valid excuse. Read more »
Exodus to Zero
By Benedict Parfan
Thus, there we are two years from now: migrants
in a cold land. It will take this early to pack a whole life
to a country never big enough. So let me begin
with the mayas whose wings are too small and frail
to cross the Pacific. Then the tricycles of Baliuag
whose sputter pulsate to your eardrums, the rails
along Algeciras whose trains are blocked by lives.
I will scoop the lapu-lapu, talakitok and matambaka Read more »
memory shifts
By Karen Ann C. Capco
a finger wrote your name
out on the counter of a bar,
skin dragging water, leaving
nothing but droplets and the
faint wetness of desire. no one
else ever wrote it out again, perhaps
nobody else knew. i still do not
know your name. even lips
cannot trace water once it has left.
all i could see then was your face outlined
by lamplight, everything else was smoke
and clinging clothes, hair sticking Read more »
Bookstore heaven for book aficionados
By Brian P. Sales, Kathleen T. Valle, and Mary Meysil B. Yamat
While the trends and preferences in books continuously change, there is also a corresponding increase in readers’ itching desire to scour alternative book stores that can nourish their bookworm tendencies. Some of these stores are relatively new while some have been around for decades. But all of them are committed to offering alternative quality titles to book lovers who are adventurous enough to look for them.
A consignment bookstore Read more »
Traffic jam corner of Dagupan and Tutuban
By Mary Joy T. de Lara
Oily blotches,
Bubbly spittles of all sizes
and quantities.
Ancient bubble gums
Flattened by the perpetual flow
of automobiles. Read more »
Manila my Manila
Ni Joseph d.L. Saguid
I. Lungsod
Sardinas na kulong
Ang pag-ibig sa lata
Masarap sa panlasa,
Magaan sa bulsa.
II. Baywalk Blues
Habang naglalakad sa Baywalk,
Maraming anino ang binasa sa night talk
Anong oras na? Alas dose na sir
Ang mahal naman. E di bababaan
III. Pulitiko Read more »
Daddy, we are girls
By Czeriza Shennille S. Valencia
Daddy, we are girls.
You don’t put your socks on top of the television
while we are watching a rerun of a classical ballet.
Look, there goes the prima, turning and crumpling
like sea foam teasing the shore.
And look how she bends like a flushed pink petal.
And, daddy, look what you’ve done.
with your sock dangling over her face,
all she becomes is a moving piece of skirt.
Montage Vol. 9 • February 2006
Traveling writers, writing travels
By Edsel Van D.T. Dura and Jordan Mari S. De Leon
Traveling to different places is probably one of the top things a person would want to do to get away from the hurly-burly of everyday life. Breathtaking scenery, scrumptious food and beautiful people are just some of the things a person looks for when traveling. But to write about these things in a way that would catch the attention and stimulate the imagination of readers is a gift. Read more »
Fine
By Eldric Paul A. Peredo
So you’re doing fine.
I had my own small successes today.
I woke up dreamless if exhausted
from battling unconscious invasive thoughts
of that upturn of your lips
you call a smile.
In the shower, the moisturizing soap
you kept teasing me to use
mainly for your benefit
stayed in its holder.
The generic one my uncle bought
from Walmart worked as well.
Musk-scented, too.
I didn’t worry over whether you’ve eaten Read more »
Umbra
Ni Fidel Antonio M. Medel
Ako ang kaulayaw ng gabi na bumangon mula sa alabok
upang gahasain ang iyong pananaginip.
Hindi ka makatatakas sa ating taguan. Babasagin
ng hamog ang nakapinid mong bintana
upang gambalain ang mahimbing mong pagtulog.
Babasbasan ng libu-libong bulalakaw ang nananamlay na
gabi, ngunit hindi upang dinggin ang mga pagsamo mo o bigyang ningning
ang madilim mong kuwarto, kundi upang pag-apuyin ang hungkag mong
kalangitan. Read more »