(For Rev. Fr. Efren Villanueva, migrant, friend,
and classmate I bumped into in Los Angeles
after 22 years of not meeting up)
Tonite, we tell tall tales of the lies
We learned, lived through all along
This Los Angeles boulevard. We share
The same tales, their titles our hopes,
Their plot the greed of lilac loves
In lavenders and bricks and browns.
Here, in these streets and sidewalks
And pavements we make a pack
With evil without signing up in a blood
Compact. Over tofu and fish and kimchi,
We swap stories, all sorts, spices
In between sipping the soup piping
Hot in our broken hearts. We know
Better now, much better now, we migrants
From pilgrim islands. Lilac ladies,
Lilac men, lilac loves: they all come
In all shapes and sizes and kinds
To pray on stone angels, pray for
Us and then, and then, prey on us.
Aurelio S. Agcaoili
St Basil Church, Wilshire, LA
2004
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