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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.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

BENCH GRAFFITI

 
 
BENCH GRAFFITI
 
If you came this way,/ Taking any route, starting from anywhere,/ At any time or at any season,/ It would always be the same: you have to put off/ Sense and notion. – T. S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”, Four Quartets
 
You are beautiful! An unlikely graffiti
on the park bench brushed on the seat
and the back slats must shoo parkers
away---a stalker nearby? A pedophile?
 
Why not a lonely chap who has no one
to say those words to? Why not a lad
too shy to blurt it out to that ingénue?
Why not a happy-feeling litterbug?
 
"You are beautiful " should go a long way
into making a homely jogger feel she
could use the stroking; no one would
run a hand over those spindly dry legs.
 
Why not the kindest guess about mad
men painting nice things in the dark?
 
---Albert B. Casuga

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