Words and Invisible Cords

As I feed you I am fed As you heal I heal, too As you don't heal I heal, nonetheless As you heal I may not heal As you don't heal I may not, also Whatever They say Healing starts at home I say Dealing starts at home Where home Is where you are Is where you are, now.

  It is 25 degrees celsius in my room Still too cold for tatay So at 8pm he is guided to the other room With no AC on Nanay, and sometimes when the grandkids are around They stay in my room We cuddle in the cold We breathe warm giggles Consume heat as our legs big and small Brush against each other under the covers Until the eyes get tired from the bright LED light Straight from the smart tv mounted on the wall Until our throats go dry from old gossips and banter Until the intervals of our inhales and exhales Follow the rhythm of four lines forming a square Until our heartbeats fall to fifty a minute And the sound of old gossips and banter fade. It is 11 o'clock The grandkids sleeping like tired construction workers Nanay and I with our eyes half-closed And with our sentences hanging unfinished We hear struggling, small footsteps Strides so painful yet strong He doesn't knock He opens the door He smiles watching the little construction workers He asks me 'tong' you stil...

It rained heavily last night Flood water filled the spaces in the cracks Davao's roads, concrete and rough Parched from days of scorching dry heat Gulped unapologetically in relief. Seated, I crossed my legs Laid my back inch by inch Onto the woven surface of rattan Subtly screeching, and adjusting To the weight Of A Person. A person waking up from shallow sleep Tries to compensate for depth In the liminal spaces Of cracked pavements and mud streets Of moist fibers of wood sheaths And in the brief hours Of dawn.

My father has a hospital bed at home I like sleeping on it Or playing with its manual recliner Adjusting it to my liking: Netflix angle, around 45 degrees Reading angle, more Meditating angle, depends Flat for shavasana. While in shavasana I thought Does tatay play with the manual recliner, too? He's not as confined to it anymore Limbs are healthier after the stroke At 2am he would always get up And move to the living room sofa to sleep This signals the great changing of guards In the early hours of dawn As I slowly jump into tatay's hospital bed Adjusting the recliner to my liking. Oh sweet luxury of choice And of play And of role play It can get scary Buy more time Spend more time. I hear the roosters crow Must be 4am Any moment now tatay will reclaim his twilight, reclining throne. I shall inch back to the king-sized bed. In the name Of the father Of the son And of the holy spirit Amen.

The blues Also happen In the expansive breath Of the mountains But Hues of doom The blues Are disarmed Each time The loyal blinding, golden light Usurps the dark throne Albeit rather briefly Air suspended victory The loyal blinding, golden light Shows up in the morning Shows up in the morning Always Shows up in the morning.