WESTERN VISAYAS

Mark Anthony A. Grejaldo was born August 11, 1980 in Iloilo City. He is a graduate of Mass Communications from the West Visayas State University. He started writing poetry in 1998. In 1999, he became a fellow for Poetry in the Iligan National Writers' Workshop and the U.P. National Writers' Workshop in Davao City. "Lihim ng mga Alitaptap" (his first attempt in writing a screenplay) was a finalist in the 3rd Star Cinema. He translated in English the poem"Ginahidlaw Ako".

I Long
( Mark Anthony A. Grejaldo )

In the whisper of the narra
At night while
It rocks the sal-ing,

In the monotone of our rooster
Whose crowing wakes us up
At dawn,

In the argument between
Our two dogs which of them
Would eat lunch first,

In the silent words
Of the fish in the river were
We bathe and wash our clothes,

In the screaming of our
Ducks for they are being stalked
By the cat of the house across,

And in the noise of the rats
In our kitchen as they
Gnaw the sacks
Of palay—

I long: for 
Here at the Evacuation Center, 
The only thing I 
Hear is the silent 
Howl of the ashen wind 
After Mayon growled 
And salivated 
Embers.

Alain Russ Dimzon is an ilonggo farmer and was born in Jaro, Iloilo City onoctober 31, 1963. He studied at  West Visayas State University taking up B.S Biological Sciences. He is an active cultural worker. He wasa member of  National Committee on the Literary Arts (NCCA)  and became a chairperson of Committee on Literature, Arts Council of Iloilo (ACIFI).

The Silence of the Tabernacle
(Translated by the author) 

The writer
Shouts on
The silence
Of the tabernacle.

“Saint Mary,
Faith is a woman!”

He can see
Images
In the pealing
From the belfry.

The statues
Of the disciples
Have the faces
Of women.

The last peek
Of the sun
Breaks
The painting
Of St. Michael
Defeating
The devil.

St. Micahel!
Jesus Christ!
You are women!

I will revise
The Bible!

In the middle of the darkness,
In front of the tabernacle,
The writer burns
A black veil.

Isidro M. Cruz who won First Prize, Poetry in English, for Bodies of Water. according to him "...a Palanca isn't necessary for writing, just for the writer's ego,". He wrote the poem entitled Bulkitan which is from his book REDEEMING THE BODY.

BULKITAN

by Isidro M. Cruz

Years ago, the Hiligaynon signboard

for a vulcanizing shop did not summon

the god of fire and metallurgy. 

Back then I took karon to mean later,

but afterwards I learned it could also mean

now, so that the same word could point

to two opposing time spots.  Strabismus

poses a problem of spatial interpretation

(as the same thing occupies binary positions)

and a temporal one too (if I try to measure

the time it takes to move from the right image

to the other).  To coin is to invent a word,

itself a medium of exchange.  A bill

means both paper money and advertising poster

which, in the end, amount to the same thing.

Etymology teaches that sound that bears sense

grows old too and changes inside out:

that love, from leubh, the root of libido,

originally meant desire, and lust,

from las, meant eagerness.  How distinct

could they be, desire and eagerness?           

As traffic stands still across a bulkitan

in Tanza, I think of how a punctured tire

gets plugged so air could bear the weight

of a fire truck loaded with firemen and water,

its siren announcing in the streets

the oncoming battle between water and fire,

while a dictionary burns beside some bills.

Bulang
  by Bryan Mari Argos

Tay, paano maghupot sang inugbulang nga sulog?
Indi bala, dapat ginahimashimas pirmi?
Sa aga,
Sa udto,
Kag bag-o magkatulog?

Siling ni Kiryong nga boy tat ay
Pwede na kuno ipang-bulang
Ang akon sulog,
Gani adlaw-adlaw
Iya ginahimashimas,
Sa aga,
Sa udto,
Kag kun ikaw
Nagakatulog.