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ALBERT B. CASUGA, a Philippine-born writer, lives in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, where he continues to write poetry, fiction, and criticism after his retirement from teaching and serving as an elected member of his region's school board. He was nominated to the Mississauga Arts Council Literary Awards in 2007. A graduate of the Royal and Pontifical University of St. Thomas (now University of Santo Tomas, Manila. Literature and English, magna cum laude), he taught English and Literature (Criticism, Theory, and Creative Writing) at the Philippines' De La Salle University and San Beda College. He has authored books of poetry, short stories, literary theory and criticism. He has won awards for his works in Canada, the U.S.A., and the Philippines. His latest work, A Theory of Echoes and Other Poems was published February 2009 by the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House. His fiction and poetry were published by online literary journals Asia Writes and Coastal Poems recently. He was a Fellow at the 1972 Silliman University Writers Workshop, Philippines. As a journalist, he worked with the United Press International and wrote an art column for the defunct Philippines Herald.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

BE (WHERE YOU ARE)




BE (WHERE YOU ARE)


When you are sleeping, sleep./ Be where you are..../  Don’t wonder when/the bulb died. Fix it./ Or tell
someone else to. --- Hannah Stephenson, “Moondust”, The Storialist



Or why dream at all? You will kick the flannels
off, thrash the sheets, strangle faultless pillows,
moan or giggle between snores or wheezing, or
perhaps whimper your saddest fare-thee-wells
(goodbye-cruel-world sobbing), or call a name
you caught across a crowded room, some such.  
Beware the nightmare lurking as a wan wraith
of your most cherished dreams: they will skew
reel-like slowmo runs through verdant meadows
into frenzied train-chasing pleas for love’s sake.

Either way, dreaming a nightmare into a haven
of glorious lifetimes, a plenitude of joy and love,
remains the refuge of the fearful and defeated.
Be where you are: warm, asleep, under flannels.



---Albert B. Casuga
04-07 -12

This poem, an experiment in the marrying of elements of a sonnet and sweetelle (a la Alison Joseph and Luisa Igloria), is our seventh in April (celebrating National Poetry Month). Thanks to Ohio poet Hannah Stephenson for her poem "Moondust" which triggered this poem-a-day effort.


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