am i separated from your body smile brain hands merely
to become the jumping puppets of a dream? oh i mean:
entirely having in my careful how
careful arms created this at length
inexcusable, this inexplicable pleasure-you go from several
persons: believe me that strangers arrive
when i have kissed you into a memory
slowly, oh seriously
-that since and if you disappear

solemnly
myselves
ask “life, the question how do i drink dream smile

and how do i prefer this face to another and
why do i weep eat sleep-what does the whole intend”
they wonder. oh and they cry “to be, being, that i am alive
this absurd fraction in its lowest terms
with everything cancelled
but shadows
-what does it all come down to? love? Love
if you like and i like,for the reason that i
hate people and lean out of this window is love,love
and the reason that i laugh and breathe is oh love and the reason
that i do not fall into this street is love.”

So I pulled them
off the mattress,
washed them, and
hung them out to dry.

I must sleep on the floor
until they do, with an ear
pressed to the wood,
listening for his footfall.

Last week, I finally
cleared the table
of the plastic cups
and cardboard boxes,
the ketchup sachets
and salt packets.
(The roaches have taken
care of the crumbs.)

Tomorrow, (maybe) I will
wipe off the soda stains
and tell the pizza store to
stop sending me these fliers

stapled with their menu
and new and exciting promos:
Our way of saying,
“We miss you.”

Upos ng sigarilyo, pudpod na lapis
Libaging bimpo (natuyo sa pawis)
Ballpen na iskandaloso
At mga kupas na laso ng huling regalo.

Maalikabok na tarheta, picture ni Nora
Malansang pitaka; tinuping palanca
At panyong napatakan ng luha
Nagmamantsa.

Hindi kita maisisilid
Sa aking bulsa.

It was a full week of dinners, drinking and going around HK. One time we went to Mongkok to show a teammate the Ladies’  Night Market. Surprisingly, one of the streets had a bunch of street performers! I never knew that before. This one in particular had a band who performed songs and had some birds on display. Strange.

the birds are just there in front while the band plays.

jill eating a tonkatsu one random night

what’s HK if we don’t force you to eat dumplings?

i love hot and sour soup. fact.

Jill and I also paid a visit to the Lunar New Year fair at Victoria park on the 21st. Some pictures here.

there is no gift of love for jill

how fun was it to receive money because i’m young and single. SUPER FUN.

i have no idea what these are but they freak me out

January 23-25 were declared holidays here in Hong Kong to celebrate the Lunar New Year. At work, I was e-mailing a colleague in Madrid another round of “Happy New Year” and she replied to me that “It’s good to have a continuous celebration =)” INDEED.

Chinese New Year was a welcome break from the two weeks of system testing that we have been doing for work. More importantly, my mom arrived in time for all the celebration. I didn’t understand when it was exactly… I believe the actual New Year’s Day was January 23. Oddly enough the NY eve was a non-event and by that I meant the fireworks didn’t happen until the 24th. We went to IFC to check it out but as you can tell from this angle, the best place to view it is from Wan Chai.

But first, the 23rd. I read that the locals visit the Lam Tsuen wishing trees on the first day of the lunar new year. I am not one to turn down a good road trip (or an opportunity to wish for Spain to win the Euro2012) so we headed to the (even colder) New Territories to wish on some trees. From HK Island, we had to transfer 3 lines to get to Tai Wo station to finally reach Tai Po town, and then to take cab from the MTR station to Lam Tsuen.

Lam Tsuen Wishing Trees

The locals are pretty serious about these “well wishing” activities. The place was packed. I read that one had to place a placard of wishes at the end of a string attached to an orange, and then lob this to the branch of the Banyan Tree. If it does not fall, the wish comes true. Here are some shots from that site, as well as of me aiming at that danged tree. Took me 6 goddamn tries to get it to hold. Good thing there were a billion wishes in that sheet of paper. LOL.

the orange was plastic, btw. so hard to throw it.

i hope they all come true, folks.

Happy Lunar New Year to all. May the year of the dragon bring us all that we want…  (a Spain Euro 2012 win, por supuesto).

Un saludo a todos. xxxx

—–

published in Heights (the Ateneo de Manila literary publication)

Edgar Calabia Samar is a graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University (MA in Filipino Literature), and the University of the Philippines (Ph. D in Filipino Creative Writing). My favorite writer and poet, he has won several awards including the 2005 NCCA Writer’s Prize  for Walong Diwata ng Pagkahulog (available in all National Bookstores).

You decided to slip a coin
in my boot – I decided not to fuss.
It stayed there all evening – we stayed out late,
as we always did then.

Here I am now, a lifetime later,
surprised to find a coin in my boot

and without you here
to laugh with.

02.2012

fuente: Chelsea FC TV (youtube)

Because they didn’t know each other earlier, they suppose that
nothing was happening between them.
What of the streets, stairways and corridors
where they could have passed each other long ago?

I’d like to ask them
whether they remember– perhaps in a revolving door
ever being face to face?
an “excuse me” in a crowd
or a voice “wrong number” in the receiver.
But I know their answer:
no, they don’t remember.

They’d be greatly astonished
to learn that for a long time
chance had been playing with them.

Not yet wholly ready
to transform into fate for them
it approached them, then backed off,
stood in their way
and, suppressing a giggle,
jumped to the side.  There were signs, signals:
but what of it if they were illegible.
Perhaps three years ago,
or last Tuesday
did a certain leaflet fly
from shoulder to shoulder?
There was something lost and picked up.
Who knows but what it was a ball
in the bushes of childhood.

There were doorknobs and bells
on which earlier
touch piled on touch.
Bags beside each other in the luggage room.
Perhaps they had the same dream on a certain night,
suddenly erased after waking.

Every beginning
is but a continuation,
and the book of events
is never more than half open.

Szymborska (1923-2012)