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Paolo Guotana  Jan 2016
Brownout
Paolo Guotana Jan 2016
.. Na sa tuwing tinitignan ko ang mga bituin ay naalala ko ang kislap sa iyong mga mata na minsa'y nag bigay liwang sa buhay ko.

Na sa tuwing umiihip ang hangin at nilalamig ang aking katawan ay nangungulila ako sa mga yakap mo na sa sarap at higpit ay minsa'y bumuo sa pagkatao ko.

Sa perpektong hugis ng buwan na nagpapaalala sakin sa perpektong hugis ng mga labi mo na minsa'y naging kanlungan ng sa akin.

Mga bagay, na dahil sa brown out ay muli kong naalala..
- BROWNOUT, guotana
Sally A Bayan  May 2016
BROWNOUT
Sally A Bayan May 2016
Brownout

A not too loud explosion pierced the quiet hours
..................immediately after......lights went out

Twelve midnight, and two minutes later
there gently blew, a whiff of cool air,
brushed past my cheeks and shoulders
but...that was it

Every hot, humid second of every burning minute
took too long to get out of my sweating body
the heat seemed stationary
in the stillness of this limited territory

Lukewarm water
flowed out of the shower
being wet.......was brief
it didn't bring much relief

It was cooler....out at the verandah
but mosquitoes are more active in the dark
the flickering candlelight
teased them all the more, this moonless night

This should be a good time
to ponder........to write
but my head feels limited...empty
swelling with something else, that is chilly
this silent.........uptight
uncomfortable summer night
...the hours, consumed with blight
a disappointment outright...

just waiting....for my eyes to give in
no longer defying,
but surrendering,
to the hot...humid
dark wee hours of the morning.

Sally

Copyright May 12, 2016
Rosalia Rosario A. Bayan
...either too dark , or too bright...makes us, weary...
(1:30 AM/ Brownout)

Ang alab Mo’y minsang inalay sa’kin
Syang naging mitsa ng pagkandirit ng himagsikan.

Ako’y nakakapaso
Magbibigay-liwanag sa madilim na kinagisnan,
Sa apat na sulok ng silid-aralan,
Sa lipunang may mabigat na ginagampanan
Tangan ang alab na umalarma sa pagkatao.

Nilisan ko ang liwanag
Kung saan akala ko’y dapat na maging kasanayan.
Ako’y Iyong tinubos
Sa mapanghusgang lipunan
May tatak sa noo, syang bukambibig ng madla
Salamat, nang ako’y maging pag-aari Mo
Nang ako’y pagharian Mo.

Gamitin Mo ako,
Pagkat ang liwanag, ang katuturan
Kailanma’y hindi mapupunan ng anumang salita
Nang sinuman..
Kung ang alab ay hindi Ikaw ang sentro
At kung ang lakas ay hindi mula Sayo.

Sukat ang buhay ko
Bawat luha ko, akala ko’y walang silbi’t walang kwenta
Ngunit iniipon Mo pala ang bawat butil nito
Minsan pala’y nakapapaso rin ito
Isalin **** muli, buohin Mo’t ihulma ang pagkatao.

Sayang..
Kung ang ilaw ay nakakahon
Kung ang sisidlan ko’y hindi ko lilisanin
Kung ang sarili’y hindi kikitilin
Nang magkaroon ng pangalawang buhay.

May ilang gagambala
Mga insektong hindi alam kung saan nagmula
Mamumuhunan sila’t magiging igno sa liwanag
At kung di lalakas ang alab,
Ako pala’y matutupok.

At sa hanging iihip,
Kung wala ang mainit na mga kamay
Na siyang yayakap at hahagkan sa akin
Ako’y maagang mahihimlay,
Mawawalang saysay ang pagkatubos sa akin.

Ngunit ang alab na ito’y
Kitilin man: kusa man at sa walang dahilan
Maari pang mabuhay, sa ikalawang pagkakataon
Sisindihang muli,
Luluha sa hapdi’t kirot ng kahapon
Ngunit ang bukas ay may kasiguraduhan
Na ang tatahakin ay hindi na tulad nang ngayon.

Binibilang na ang oras
Bawat minuto’t segundo
Maaring mapagal at maagang tamlayin,
Kung saan saksi ang kadiliman sa liwanag na taglay.

Ngunit bago maupos,
Ako’y may aabutin
Bawat sulok ay dadampian ng buhay
At magmamarka sa bawat haligi
Na kahit sa dilim, mayroong palang pag-asa.

(5/13/14 @xirlleelang)
T'was the Time when Light hasn't come
Thus filled the Air with Old-Smelling Rhum
Or Gas-Lamps, or Candles of Wax
Do make this Darkened City a mass.

The Source of Great Power has fell
This Time unknown which we cannot tell
The Heat as the Night, how Great it was
When Cooling Converters has made its loss.

People complain, here and there
For Power to return, unable to Dare
At this rate in which they have had Enough
It's now their Turn to be so Rough.

Banners flow in tiles across
The Head of whom around is Boss
Saying, "Power come! Power come!
Hear me now, don't be Dumb!"

As the Night comes with Loser Heat
The Rebellious Mass was still hard to beat
Sources say to drive them out
Not by Force, but by Pout.

"We've had Enough!" the People said
Thus they storm to the Company's Head
Defense Forces pull them back
But the People threw them in the Stacks.

Just then, in Time's time an Electrician
Came through. Stating:
"All is well's tripe! I've cleared the Electric Hue!"

The People heard, but didn't say a Word
To realise: "We have dumped ourselves like birds."

Forgiveness, they spoke. And Cooler Thoughts
Do process
Clearing-up the Debris; And brooming-out the Mess.

Lights have returned; The Power recharged
Peace has settled once again; With the Culprit
At-large.
Nat Lipstadt Jul 2014
a story, a long strange poem, and a thank-you note of a sort
~~~~~~

swords and verbs,
subjects and nouns,
participles and particles,
participants of past and futures
transitive and intransitive,
none can get pen-rooted,
sic transit gloria verborum eius
(fleetingly passes the glory of his words)

slow or swift, overhead, all unobtainable,
from the atmosphere unpluckable,
no deposit, no return, no po-ahem,
only a sad sonata denominated,
Air on the E(mpty) String continuous playing

likely something is a brewing,
clock internal clocking,
but no talking, just tic tocking,
ideas stumblebum in and out,
inebriated, fuzzy speeches,
don't reach out to touch or savor 'em,
those weird words were made for walking,
not for retrieval, sorting, storing, and
subsequent lots of
some assembly needed...
poetic conceiving...not

perhaps they are disfigured?
important but disguised?
definitely not credos and codas,
mission statements, definitions,
nah...not me, unimportant amateur passerby,
my only "laurels" come to
die at holiday time,
lariats to lasso, tether and then brownout,
a wintry green,
gone to nether garbage cans, timely and expediently,
per a calendar deadline

but an overheard conversation
on Eighth Avenue,
a ******-onto latched-onto,
undid this parlous state of
an evenhanded hypnotic flatlining,
a perilous mind,
infected with no-inspiration

"Why I do not share,  
or publish on the Internet," she said,
"what I write is so
precious to me that
the thought of it,
orphaned and drowned
amidst the unending pixels,
water-falling words
into ocean trenches,
unborn, yet ignominiously dead
just the same,
at the same instant,
an unbearable pain,
childbirth and death,
all in one, unthinkable!"


"Publish" he begged her,
"too good are you
to deny this world of this,
the world needs it proofs,
you are a proof!"


stunned by an emotive slap,
I knew kinetically,
I too must have,
proofs,
of me,
worthy of presentation,
if only,
to prove worthy of
your time and thus
prove to myself
my very own existence,
even derision decisive,
is an extant proof of sorts...
~~~~~~~

My Proofs

having come so far,
task so vast,
bedeviled and bewildered,
I am the face I have seen
in photos and mirrors,
but how can I stake my claim
to be more than just a
passing fancy virtual reality?

you cannot bite me,
though willing do I tender
my body for your impression
upon my body permanent

you cannot caress my lips,
though oft imagined it,
the multiplicity tender of that dream,
makes the would-be reality of it,
pale with a shame of insufficiency

bleed and wept poetry for the unity us,
so hard, so oft, so free,
my tablet machine
human tear-tracked and deep red scarred,
the Apple Geniuses,
when they see me coming,
whisper it's him, Poet-man,
who made an
iPad into a tissue
that cannot be repaired/replaced,
and run away and hide

have I not confessed enough my colorful sins,
but alas, all you can see is blackened dots of crimes
hosted upon a white background
of pleadings for forgiveness,
i's dotted with rejection slips,
t's crossed with painful slivers
of writings crucified by me,
therefore, for the grace of god in man,
they died unnamed and lived only briefly

perhaps if you saw a man by my name
on your television, you would say
"****, that is/was him, it cannot be denied,"
but you cannot be sure, imposter,
what must I do, to make the evening news,
and claim existence, therefore I am!

I cannot say with certainty,
am more then a running-around,
neurons and electrons colliding,
a mess of sub-atomic particles
invisible and in periodic possession of a flavor
of the god factor or Einstein's hanky

but if you come to my city,
I can give you a location,
a centralized park, a wooden fruit-box stand,
at an end corner,
(cause corners end well)
where a man stands and recites
and sorta sounds like what's his name

if you want to be sure it is that one,
look for teeth marks on his body,
reading out loud from a tablet unique,
alternating stanzas with Siri
his spiteful spitfire editor and sometime fan,
the box upon he stands transported
grapes from California, oranges from Florida,
can't be sure, the stickers rain washed away,
and if he weeping as he chants,
odds are it could be me,
I mean him...

to be sure you must place gentle a finger
or your lips across, upon his,
if electrons you sense and taste,
and yours they embrace
as naturally as if they were waiting

just for you,
you can almost be sure,
don't ask his name, unnecessary,
for he will face you with these words:


*"Thank you, Thank you!
you are my proof..."
a story, a long poem, and a thank-you note
to one who is known as
Jara Fan,
from Saskatchewan,
writ as an attempted proof of our actualized mutual existence
beyond
mere pixelation
(5/11/14 – 12:47 am/ Brownout)

I’m the li’l twinkling star
The nursery rhymes chant who I am
To where I’ve heard what their inklings are
And how they plainly wonder what I really am.

Today, I saw the multitudes of stars
Some shone, some have not
At this hour, some rage their trumpets
While others wear their Harry-inspired Invisible Cloaks.

I’ve watched them,
But they don’t grow fainter
They form constellations
Together, they bring out assorted emblems.

I asked, “Why am I alone?”
And “Why I can’t be joined with others?”
“Why I don’t need to conform?”

There were bags of issues
Emulating the others out there –
In the cosmic galaxy, the drudgery darkness
To where depth cannot be measured at all.

You faced me and told me
I was born for something
Maybe not for my delicate-reverie
But You moved me from where I am
To learn strength and endurance when I’m all alone.

I will then outshine, I will be known
My future tells me so
Not because of the light I’ll make
But because of what You’ve made me for.

There’s no one like You
For in my darkest hours, I still see You
Your glory has captured my thoughts.

You are the Moon in my eyes,
The only Moon that showed me
What it’s like to be in the light.

The dimness in me
Was brought out of me
And You then, are proof that Day exist.

The Great Sun will rise again
Oh, the Light, I can’t see it plainly
I’ll be blind if I’ll ever try looking at His rays
Yet, I know how marvellous He was
How perfect He was
For He is incomparable, beyond words.

You, my Moon, oh Jesus Christ
Because of You, I learned to value the dark
When I’m in it, I could view more of You –
Your fullness and how dark can’t ever obscure You.
You’ve also taught me the Half, the Crescent too
Then, glory by glory
I made known of You.

I will not fear
For even the clouds hinder us
I know, You’re still there;
I know I’ll see You again.

Even during the storms, You watch me
You bring light continually
You give hope to the universe
Speaking life wherever I go.

And just when I look at You
I know, that I, the li’l twinkling star
Will prolong my glistening
And You, on the other hand
Shall be reigning forever.

(5/12/14 @xirlleelang)
(visit https://www.aol.com/?ncid=
crosssellusaolc00000003 - for further details)

Courtesy rare derecho
killed four people
nearly forty eight hours ago
power outage affected more than
half a million people
in mid-Atlantic states.

Residents in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania
(the poet's hometown)
smack dab within swath.

The storms raced across
keystone and garden states
moving eastward at
over 80 mph at times.

Thus yours truly rendered incapacitated,
(albeit unable to access,
excel as word wizard)
to craft his trademark poetry.

How grateful (before being dead)
to write reasonable rhyme
galumphing within mine head
nsync with zeppelin comprised of lead.

Analogous giddy sensation
ascending stairway to heaven
or metaphorically kneading
figurative dough that doth leaven.

Great appreciation regarding
strapping size men/women,
whose hulking size rivals (or surpasses)
legendary Paul Bunyan,
who gingerly plucked fallen timbers
as outsize paws casually flicks

(think game giant size pick up sticks)
testing restored power outage easy
as ordinary size folks sticking toothpicks
into homemade apple pie
assessing readiness of just desserts
scrumptious piping hot pie à la mode.

Labor of love
meant abandoning taking shelter
'course donning protective suitable gear
'n trumpeting hallelujah
no matter motley crew
drenched with perspiration

imagining myself just
watching cutting crew
would find yours truly to swelter,
when veteran technicians
successfully troubleshot gridlocked
downed wires strewn helter skelter.

Despite Mother Nature's perilous whims,
whereby meteorologists issue stern warning
high severe winds risk taking innocent lives
hazardous falling limbs threaten to damage

property courtesy debris flying to and fro
hither and yon trapping unsuspected victims
wracking in my opinion impractical jokers,
(perhaps someone like me)
not necessarily strictly

being literally immobilized
more so figuratively
limiting basic activities
(think hermit administering his

necessary morning ablutions)
to daylight hours
additionally consuming comestibles
at frozen or room temperature.

Essentially western civilization
dependent upon flow of electrons
imposes quasi human *******,
especially when meteorological

or global warming necessitate
creature comfort of air conditioning
impossible mission to function otherwise
during hazy, hot, and humid dog days
blackout or brownout prospect ratchets up!
Las Piñas  - memories sweet
Soul was innocent and neat

I miss the friends of childhood
The closeness of neighborhood

It’s where I learned ABC
Twinkle Stars and 123

I miss the townhouse playground
My afternoon hang around

With Jay, Fritz, Toto, ***-***
Yobi, Cyrene…more than ten

It’s nice when night was brownout
My friends and I would play out

After church mass, family
SM Southmall was hobby

When Holy Week was around
Night film showing on playground

Also on time of summer
Neighbors resort together

When it’s Christmas eve and night
Flood the gifts from left and right

Best is every New Year’s eve
Night’s merriest street party

Visit kin both side parents
Those another excitements

Oh Casimiro Townhomes
I should have never left you!

-11/27/2011
(Dumarao)
*First Incubus Collection
My Poem No. 69
Talking about the F-Word, let's talk.

Hey, it's a guy: F. Word. F. Word becomes F. Lesh.

F. Word looked at his watch. Saw the Metro-Gnome. Little sucker just keeps walking. F. Word watched his look. Narrow tunnels, deep sink holes, wide open spaces.

Here we go, he thought. Steps into his own pipe. Blackness breakable What's that over there? An old friend calls out to him. Hey, got some new clothes for you. Yeah, you deal in shrouds. So? What's the fear? You're gonna get dressed up in the end anyway. And after you see the light. The light I see now is a fight.

Here we go again, he thought. Steps into his own chasm. Darkness drinkable. After some deep falling he plunks down in an inch of water. What’s that over there? Another old friend calls out to him. Hey, got some new proteins for you. Yeah, the fleas, and who ends up as food? So? What's the fear? You're gonna get eaten anyway. And after there’s the apple tree. I'll be the apple, I'll flee.

Here we go again, he thought. Steps into his own vistas. Brownout boatable. Another old friend calls out to him. Hey, got some new ship for you. Yeah, the one that carries me nowhere. So? What's the fear? You're gonna be shipped off anyway. And your last Port of Call will be the Court of Pall. Must say, you got a way with words. You just gave me the floats.

The friends met in Mr. Koestler's Twilight Bar. How come we hardly ever see you here? they said to F. Word.  Keep getting lost, get into a fight, have to run, end up on my back in the canal. Boy, you still got your looks. How do you keep 'm up? Oh, those looks. I just traded in my Kingdom.

— The End —