LITERARY

Flowers Were Never Meant For Someone Like Me

I have shown my body more than I have been given flowers.

It comes to me in quiet flashes — the dim light of a room, the low hum of something mechanical, the horror of being learned too quickly. I remember how easy it was to say yes; how my body opened like a door I would spend years wishing I had kept shut. No ceremony, no hesitation. Just surrender disguised as intimacy.

Other Half of My Soul

There is an old belief that when two people are destined to love each other, the heavens grow careless and shape them with similar hands. Not enough for mothers to mistake one for the other in crowded streets, but enough for the world to feel briefly unsettled whenever they stand side by side.

#MADVOCATE: Ronald the Second

I was a police in Davao doin’ alright,
Then I became a senator overnight.
Now I gotta figure out how to do it wrong,
So much to learn alongside Bong.

#MADVOCATE: This Isn’t My Father, I Just Printed It Out

Nakatirik ang araw, tumataginting ang makina ng mga kotse, at mainit ang simoy ng hangin. Sa isip ni Sierra, ngayon ang perfect time para ilabas ang cutout ng kaniyang idol.

Habang kinakaladkad niya ang taong cardboard sa sidewalk, may boses na pumigil sa kaniya.

My Mom Was Supposed To Be A Lawyer, But Instead She Had Me

I think about that sometimes — not in a dramatic, self-pitying way, but in the quiet moments where I catch her staring off like she’s remembering a version of herself I’ll never know.

‘Til This Term Do Us Part

Sa kolehiyo, tila hindi maiiwasan ang pag-ibig — isinulat na sa kapalaran sa mismong sandali na ikaw ay nag-enroll sa Pamantasan. Wari’y napakahaba ng apat na taon nung una, ngunit habang tinatahak mo na iyong landas, biglang bumibilis ang ikot ng orasan.

I Will Die Your Daughter

Little by little, Ma, I am learning how to die perfectly. I think every cell in my body has long since programmed their apoptosis. It all began in the first crack, when you called me your daughter. That word, ever since, bears in it a violent ring. It echoes in the sound of my footsteps, how they forge the path to my own guillotine.

I should have taken more photos

A camera isn’t complicated. It’s mechanics. Light. Timing. It’s a system you learn until your hands move faster than thought, until your fingers find the dials without looking. Until every setting feels automatic.

Bakit May Bastos Sa Batasan?

Hindi mo na maitatago pa. Kahit anong plantsa mo sa iyong barong, kahit gaano mo pa banatin ang ngiti sa harap ng mikropono: umaalingasaw pa rin ang iyong amoy.

Ang Lahat ng Ako

Ito ang teritoryo kong inaagaw niyo:  ang lahat ng ako. Ang espasyong inyong ipinasok at nilapastangan;  Ang siwang na hindi niyo likha ngunit inangkin bilang lagusan— Ang lamat  sa balat  na hinahaplos ng inyong mararahas na mga kamay, Ang aking boses, Ang aking laman. Sinasamba lang ang aking mga birhen noong ito’y dumurugo.  Inaalagaan lang […]