minutes before the pta.tay-tay blues

the warmth of the afternoon sun
gives rhythm to the dance
of five peso coins in the dashboard
while you find comfort against
the newly upholstered leather seat
of a two month old L-300.
flashes after flashes,
thoughts clouded your mind
as if mimicking the angry blow
of dust from the unfinished road
widening project and stained patches
of your black backpack.


you always anticipate this phase
but before dusk you were
expecting something new,
aside from sadness.

Tourniquet

i remember how it was
and your steady grip
that tightens with
every moment
of fear or happiness.
you even said
that plain understanding
and compromise
will do the trick
and all of this
is nothing but
temporary compression.
but then i defer
with fear
because your grip
proves you wrong.

***
…and in the end we choose
to let it go like the view
of a prominent vein without
the pressure of tourniquet

sagbot overdose

multicolored candy wrappers, tinapa scented cellophanes, rotten fallen leaves, empty bottles of tropicana twister,econo foil packs stained by soy sauce and vinegar, brown bag with barely bitten pandesal, unclassified leftovers in paper plates, sticks of nicotine,piled bottles of red horse beer, burned up mary jane, plastic sachets with traces of methamphetamine, melamine rich milk products,monosodium g plus minola o, her excellency, his majesty, the unhonorables, their unholiness, presidential pardon kay teehankee, killing view in mindanao, rise and fall of gasoline, papogi rock,overpopularized emo lyf-istayl, gold album ni gretchen barreto, teledrama adaptation sang pelikula ni ate shawe, heavy drama scenes of sam milby,political ambitions of manny p., ‘let’s help the ofw’ ad ni manny v., one liners ni justice secretary, ‘hindi ako tatakbo sa 2010′ nga mga hirit, welcome sign sa emergency room, unreferred referrals from various hospitals, no philhealth-no admission policy, ’puno na ang amon hospital’ ideology, celebs and other hospital VIPs, korupsyon 101 sa tertiary hospital, 800 patients in a 400 bed capacity hospital, karton beds, bp of 90/60 and an open ampule of nicardipine, hard crust POPs, epinephrine post mortem, morphine-ketamine-nalbuphine-meperidine in your fucking painless brain, relaks-relaks mode clinical instructors, chin up-breast out- know it all MDs, chin up-breast out PGIs, chin up JIs, casual-cho nurses- and- classified N1s acting like nurse trainees, nurse trainees contented with their status as trainees, random rubbish thoughts covering a suicidal hangover.

Us

tonight, it's all about
the two of us-

simplicity and complexity
cursing each other.

binding-

this moment,
this time.

making singularity
a memory pass

or a syringe
in use

colored
by the beauty

of blood.

Three Days of Fever

Day 1
I'm starting to feel the shiver
in place-
comforted by layers of blanket
and ice;
worsened by thoughts of sleep
and sleeplessness.
Day 2
I'm starting to seek comfort
alone-
imagining Royal Tru-Orange will
relieve this affliction;
fearing that plain water will
only make it high.
Day 3
I'm starting to believe the
worse is yet to come-
a febrile state in make belief,
that no paracetamol
can ever manage.