I am seduced by your intelligent, intelligent mind

Freed from the spell cast when I fell deep into the wishing well of your cursive letters that formed the ribs that caged my heart and chained it to your expanding lungs that exploded and took all the air that I breathe.
I died, but then I am free again.

Overwhelmed by your galaxy
swimming through the river of stars,
this innocent soul,
in no time,
will be consumed by your black hole

It has been raining peonies and carnations
since you said "hi"
and I have been walking on
cherry blossom-covered pavement eversince.

Hassle.
Nagsulat si Fidel,
Pero anong nangyari?
Walang napala sa isang daang tula,
Luha ang kapalit at sakit ang sinapit
Dahil pinilit ang gusto pero ang gusto niya ay pumili ng iba.

Kaya hindi na kita gagawan ng isang daang tula.
Titigil na dito sa pang pito at hindi na tutuloy sa walo.
Talo.
Talo lang din naman kahit umabot pa ng singkwenta,
Dahil hindi naman benta sayo ang mga pakulo,
Ang mga salitang kinumpila para iparating na ika'y gusto.

Ano na nga ba ang gagawin ko?
Ititigil na ang pag titig sa litrato,
Lalabanan ang isipan na pagbulay-bulayan ang mga dahilan
kung bakit hindi maaring maging tayo.

Piniling hindi ka na alayan ng 'sang daang tula.
Piniling alisin ka sa aking haraya.
Pinipiling maging malaya.
Magpapaubaya.

Pero minsan talaga
'Di mapigilan magsulat ng isa pa
At isa pa,
Hanggang sa nakakatawa na
Dahil umabot na pala sa isang daan ang mga tula.

I talk in commas and periods,
you talk in italic subtitles.

Cotton candy kisses
Blood-rushing roller coaster ride
Spinning high like a ferris wheel
Lovin' this hiding and seeking
That's what we felt when we entered this carnival love life

ika-labintatlo ng Agosto,
naghihintay ako ng sulat mo.
Maghapong nag-aabang sa tapat ng pintuan
inaasahang darating ang kartero
dala dala ang liham
ngunit walang napala, marahil ito na ang hinihintay na babala.

Why do you have to throw rocks on my window?
You can just climb the mango tree and yell my name.
I promise I'll open my curtains and look at you like how Juliet looked at Romeo for the first time.
But please, don't die.

If ever you find yourself doubting your existence,
remember that there's a reason you are alive.

Lavenders are not always in bloom,
but when they are
they become beautifully alive.
And everyone is in awe of its splendor.
Not even a king's robe can compare.

Sometimes pruning is necessary for growth.
Sometimes healing comes through rain.
Sometimes a year of drought makes you realize
how much you wanted to be alive,
and you start praying for rain.

You're almost there.
Like a lavender,
exude a strong scent
reminding everyone your time to bloom has come.

Akala **** hindi mo na makikita pa kahit kailan. Ngunit iniluwa siya ng gabi. Unang beses sa mahabang pagkakataon, kinumbinsi mo ang sarili at kinumbinsi siyang samahan kang maglakad ng mabagal sa maiksing kalsada. Hindi siya pumalag. At sa dulo, inalis niya ang tuyong dahong nakasabit sa buhok mo. At gaya ng dati, hindi siya magpapaalam. Ibabalik mo siya sa gabi, ika labing isang minuto makalipas ang alas onse, iniisip kung sinong magmamay-ari sa kanya balang araw. Uuwi kang mag-isa, wala nang traffic sa EDSA, wala na ring lumbay. Sa iyo ang huling halakhak pero ngingiti ka na lang at magbubuntong hininga.

Longing for your
rainbow sherbet sweet teases

I can sleep tonight
because your voice
reminded me
of grandma's lullaby

Let me hear you strum my hearstrings
and let me sing the tune of your soul.
Let's create a melody,
A harmony that is you and me.

I have won every battle that scarred my soul,
I can now kiss thunder and throw lightning and dance with earthquakes as if its beats I control.

They say scars are ugly.
They tell us to cover it up as if it's shameful to have one.
But scars are proof that we overcame a battle,
And though we had been wounded,
We survived.

The stories behind scars proved that
We did not stay in ruins after chaos.
We got up and started to build an upgraded version of ourselves.
And those scars are reminders that
We can grow stronger throughout our journey.

Each scar deserves a place in this life.
So we can look back at it
As if one looks at a masterpiece displayed in the finest museum.

You were fooled by his 1s and 0s
you thought
"01101001 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101"
says he likes you,
when he really told you
"I hate you"

Dearest Pluto,
How did you feel?
When 'planet' was taken away from you?
Dearest Pluto,
How did you feel?
When 'planet' was given again to you?

I have created a beautiful contract
between your poetry and mine
But
it was broken
when I tragically, accidentally, hopelessly ended it.

I hid the photographs
under my bed
so I have token to look at
when I want to hear your laughter
again.

So I would like to take a rest.

Because my hands are swollen
from writing your name
over and over and over again.

Because my eyes forgot how to blink
whenever I see you buy coffee
in that cafe along 7th street.

Because my ears only hear
your deep voice
and triggers the fault lines in my body
waiting to attack like an earthquake
and cause major damages including butterflies, no, dinosaurs in my stomach.

Because my nose hallucinates your smell.

Because my lips long to call you all day,
all night, every hour of my life.

My senses go crazy and becomes uncoordinated.
My knees go weaker and I can't move but still smile like an idiot at the thought of your being.
You make my head spin
and you make my heart twirl
like a circus girl.

I recognize you like the first fallen leaf signaling autumn. I know you looked like someone for the future, but the present stopped me from whispering wishes onto dead trees. And the orange cardigan that's giving me warmth stayed inside the closet. I hoped for spring in fall but September disapproved.

Dead leaves covering pavements the same way they cover graves. And my feelings are flickering like candle in birthday cakes but not in celebration.
You never look for me. You never look at me. And it's fine now because I have learned to appreciate comings and goings. But you, you came but never stayed.

Love approved of the next chapter and I finally looked forward, straight ahead, after looking at the sidelines for a long time. I saw love and was surprised that love was already looking at me.

I beg you to stop sleepwalking in my dreams!
Your once unfamiliar face keeps on popping up like a surprise.
I tried to shove your ghost into the darkness,
into the abyss of my subconsciousness
but you keep on escaping with the ladder my heart made.
I vowed not to ever think of you again -
to make you a stranger once more.
But the heart is cruel,
It plays and gambles
until I lose to it.
This heart is very cruel indeed.

I whispered my words,
enveloped them,
and sealed them
with a little bit of loving.

There were no railways to follow
There were no signs to read
and no traffic light to signal.

There were only traces of memories
but we still, somehow, found a way
to hurt each other again.

And she made him dance through the darkness
as if there were spotlights and showgirls

When I was younger, I asked God for you.
He replied with a no. I tried to justify myself,
Still, he said no. I moved on.

A few years later, I asked why he could not compromise us
And he showed me that
I have the kind of love that is too much for you and
You have the kind of love that would leave me unsatisfied,
And I was never meant for that.

He made me remember the time I can't sleep
Because I was looking for more and the time
I was left hanging like a deer on a cliff,
And I realized he's right.

So don't come back.
I'm not going back on that cliff anymore.

I hope one day you find your muse
And that you won't stop writing songs for her.
I hope you find her when the sun is setting
And you're drinking your warm coffee in your favorite coffee shop.
I hope your eyes meet when she's outside the window
And the wind is blowing her hair.
And you hear God's confirmation.
She's the one.
And then you will realize, it was never me after all.

He did not put her on a pedestal
nor made her his queen.
Instead,
he wrote her and made her his favorite song.

I did not come with an instruction
Like a box that says,
"Fragile, handle with care."

Most of the time,
I am quiet and alone with my thoughts.
Sometimes, I am louder than the trucks honking in the freeway.

I am the calm in the middle of chaos.
I am also the storm itself.
I like logic,
But live to defy it.

My stories may not be all rainbow slinkies and polly pockets,
But I know,
I am made of miracles and chilly Sunday mornings.

White is the happiness on her wedding dress.
So pure and radiating.
But white can also be the cruelest of colors
for it brought sadness alone,
the day they covered his tombstone.

Don't stand so close to me,
I might love you.

Why do you keep on studying me
like I am some kind of theology or new philosophy
that will open your mind to an enlightenment
or solve an unsolved mystery?

The way you write things
has saved my unsaved spirit
and made me want to run in meadows
and make the dead flowers and grass jealous
because I was revived
by the blues you wrote

Please don't break my wrist.
We can hold hands,
but not too tight.

You may be the sine qua non in my every breathing.

Words became wine that got us drunk and made us believe we will be forever unheard on this galaxy full of poetry

Don't search for my sanity anymore,
it
followed
you
far away.

Of course I can't remember the first time I thought of something good about myself. But I remember hating my skin because others hated it too.

Not everyone was born as mesmizing as Mona Lisa, capturing the heart of a certain Da Vinci and being immortalized in a masterpiece.

Some are birthed like a venus flytrap, often overlooked or overly looked at for being different. But their strongness is to be applauded, and their beauty entices you to feel them until you can't let go. Their charm makes the goddess of beauty ashamed of its name.

I was born of ashes and smokes and volcanic eruption, and also of rivers and harps that gave pain and joy to my mother and father.

My eyes are made of cosmic dusts, you can see galaxies in them. My lips are strong as fishing knots able to spit hooks, catch whales, and tame them.

Every word I speak seduces the one who listens, and like the Titanic, it is too late to realize that you have encountered an ice berg.

My heart is carved in diamonds and salvation, strong on the outside but there is heaven within after you pass through forests of healed anxiety and scars.

My pen always writes novels and poetry and secret love letters to the moon. But my glass window walls them, I am not sure if ever she has heard them.

My feet take me to my room, for there is my comfort and there are my books.

I am not as mesmerizing as Mona Lisa - possessing beauty of the golden ratio - but I can be The Starry Night, a masterpiece made under various weather conditions. Maybe seen as a failure at first, but turned out to be one of the best.

I saw someone fall in love again.
Said his heart danced
to a different beats-per-minute than before.
It smelled of pressed jasmine and maturity
compared to cotton candy kisses and butterfly wings.

I asked why does he keep comparing?

He said
The first love's immaturity is a gate
To the next one's finesse.

She worked like an aromatherapy
and affected him like a curse
he won't be able to escape

I have lost count of all the autumns
that we should be together,
the last time the leaves fell,
was our last fall.

Help me!
I'm on the e
                   d
                   g
                   e,
                         One more touch
and I'd become ear-cutting Van Gogh insane.