My photo
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.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

HIS APPEAL



HIS APPEAL
 

I wake up and wonder how I would spend my day.
 --The widower, a retired Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals
 


For Choy* and Emily Vasquez, Life Friends


What appeal is available for me? She’s gone ahead,
and I find my mornings difficult to even understand,
let alone plan. She knew the best stripes for my tie. 

Presiding over the fates of men and empires was easy
Enough to sleep through when nights were angry
Snarls against shadows jumping tall to shape a world  

Beyond his ken, beyond his tolerance, an unforgiving
Mélange of smallness and disregard for simple courage
When that is all one needs to make sense of a brief 

Dance of clowns on the circus square wheedling smirks
As the flyers climb slack ropes for an act of deviltry,
An uncanny illusion of what must be done to look alive. 

I look out of sills to find grass suffocating her roses,
and  ask where she kept her trowel so I could do her
gardening while she takes her time to come home. 

If only I could remember where I tucked my slippers,
or get someone to answer my appeal for an answer,
I would be out there in the sun pruning her flowers. 



---Albert B. Casuga
05-30-12 , at Almanza Metropolis
 

*Retired Philippine Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez Jr., and recently deceased wife Emily Gonzalez, dearest friends of fond remembrances.

1 comment:

Josie Castillo said...

(Y) I like it.... The true feelings of Papa Choy...