Manila,
Manila,
Your bustling streets vibrate with the rumbling of the jeepneys
and the hollers of the drivers as they say,
“Pasahero diyan, kasya pa, kasya pa!”; (Any passenger there, some seats are still free!)
Your nights twinkle with the Christmas lights
that surround every tree around the Meralco building
when September begins;
Your endless traffic jams keep McDonald’s and KFC alive
twenty-four by seven
where traffic enforcers dodge cars
and vans
trucks and tricycles
and jeepneys and bicycles
while dancing to the rhythm beating in their own ears
with a smile and a salute to all the drivers
from dawn to dusk;

The noise awakens the outskirts of your city
filled with people who never fails to smile
even when the storm pirouettes like a tempestuous ballerina,
where children watch the roads
transform into this ocean of black water
and small wooden boats become the means of transportation;
paddling in between houses
as the adults try to go to work;
where chickens waddling upon roofs
and cats chasing rats
become the best forms of entertainment

but Manila,
your lingering smell of cancer
comes with the dark blue starless sky
telling people to grip their bags until it merges with their bodies.
Manila, say good night
while they hold it tight
protecting it from the dark humid air
where thieves come out to
thumb down unscrutinised objects
from shallow pockets
by the flickering lamps
across the blazing red and emerald green lights


you see less
and less
and less
faces
as the Sun sinks and says good bye.

Stop
and try to tranquilise yourself.

Your city is now lead
by a blood-thirsty leader.
Apologies from gunshots overpower the cries of help from your people.
Manila,
ignore them
and sleep well.
Let the truth decay
while lives burn and vanish.
Prayers cannot save your mutinous ignominy.

Halcyon days are over
but

Manila,
you are still a beautiful city.
Your resilient people
overflows with hospitable hearts.
Their faces plastered with big smiles
as they welcome us for you
and say, “Mabuhay!” (Long live!)
proud and mighty.
Offering their minds on banana leaf plates to everyone who visits,
Giving away their hearts in small loot bags to everyone who leaves,

The Pearl of the Orient Seas
was my hood.

Manila,
despite your lack of snow
and intense weather swings,
You are
and will always be
my home.

Tiger Lily,
Glowing bright
Soft velvety petals
Swaying violently
Against the storm

Swirling winds
Entangle her soul
Struggles to be free

Its wrath subsides
And the flower stands tall
Tiger Lily
Brightest of them all

Wearing the yellowest of bonnets
The greenest of gowns
She curtsies up and down
And turns to the sun

Petals tainted wild gold
Amongst murky swamps
Tiger Lily
Shining ever so bright

Maverick Don’t Panic

A Bad Boy,
with a good Heart,
at the tail end,
of a head start,

“Oh he’s prolific,
he’s profanic,
he’s depressed,
he’s manic,
he’s processed,
he’s organic,
he meditates and sits,
when he just can’t stand it,

and remember this is just a test so for the love of God please don’t panic,

or take anything for granted,

**** it,

I’m a good kid,
but got some bad habits,
got a good plan too,
just have to enact it,

bad,
but not the baddest,
and if they want it,
they can have it,

the map is,
my plan and,
in other words,
the Atlas is how I Nav this,

a Maverick,
like Cuban,
not Gooding no Sir.,
no Jr. a señor,
well not in age but in position,
in other words they’re minor leagues and we’re major,

a Maverick,
like Cuban,
not Gooding no Sir,
no Jr., a señor,
like Mark,
Zuckenberg,
a stark,
contrast between Comcast,
in other words,
Light & Dark are different castes,
in communications at least,
ComCast Communications Caste,
same waves just different frequencies,

in the sea,
the internet catches,
big fish and small fry,
Dark Shadows and Bright Lights,

right?…

∆ Aaron LA Lux ∆

I like the way your shirt creases
light blue and
ironed when you stretch on the other
side of the room in the chair that points you at the crisp
velvet of 7:07 PM Wisconsin Time
Carefully selected as a reminder of your
apathy and perhaps the added bonus of the inverse
image in the window
But every so often you filch a glimpse over your
arm and I can’t help but wonder how you don’t see the stark
contrast between us:
You, with your formal gray thermos and
perpetually opened word processor
single spaced
Me, with my pockets full of crumpled receipts and empty medication bottles
My posture My
teeth My
unwashed gym shoes

i cannot tell if i fight my urges,
do i do this on purpose
apathetic to my needs
is sleep an urge or a need
is *** an urge or a need
eating, writing, talking
there is no between
indulgence or survival
too little or too much
and it's true that angst is the hardest emotion to conceal
it is able to physically manifest itself no matter
how hard you try

"How do you call it when you quit believing in the only thing you used to believe in?
Losing my religion.
Since I stopped believing in you, I've got an atheist heart beating in my chest."

A man in a tailored suit
A man eating rotten fruit
One divorced three wives
Two contrasting lives

One is a lawyer
The other a beggar
I’m sure you think of the two of them,
One is a hundred times better

He’s in fine garments
The other’s worn and tattered
One’s dreams came true
The other one’s shattered

But none of that matters—why?
How ‘bout you ask us, the maggot and the fly
Because in the end —and we say this without shame
A vagrant and a lawyer in death both taste the same