Type O Negative

ars poetica filipiniana

11 ars poetica filipiniana isn’t enough to pass mangoes‘round until they’re bruised abscessed from over handling or lament the bread warm hands of dying grandparents. isn’t enough to be defined by exile or empire or scorn the love of whites. just isn’t enough to be brown. wouldn’t it be easier to start backwards unravel the knowing along the length of breadcrumbs first, the poem collared & powdered in language preceded by a rush of images, dreamy & unreliable further back, the electric impulses, the caffeine & smoke, the cafes, poets parked along the cage’s perimeter— of what could possibly be the wildest poem in captivity 12 all of it an anxious zoo— for you, i will steal the crooked bridge of a European nose, marvel at the keen slant of italics, hum field songs of revolution, fire the canon & imagine as a milky hard gem, yearning & joy experienced in the same way, for the same reason for we are all the same— underneath aren’t we? please regard this as my formal resignation i will, as i should have, become a government nurse a corporate lawyer or a software engineer please pay no mind when i cling to the door frame, red & puffy begging to be rescued screaming that 13 it just isn’t enough, isn’t enough. 14 This page intentionally left blank. ...