Iti Nagan ti Rebentador

Two of the most popular firecrackers are the “Ampatuan” and “Goodbye Gloria,” which pack so much punch and explosive power that they can shut off street lamps, trigger car alarms and shatter glass windows. Ric Sapnu, Philippine Star, January 1, 2010


Iti nagan ti rebentador ket duakayo:
singin a berdugo dagiti amin a namnama
dagiti pimmanaw tapno agsubli
ngem iti panaglagaw dagiti aldaw
ket dinton mamati kadagiti bingraw
wenno egges wenno iti bugiaw
a kari ti palibbaangen nga Ampatuan
wenno ti masindian a Goodbye Gloria.

Iti aripit ti nakapasagan, ditoy
a mangur-uray ti Ampatuan
ti Goodbye Gloria iti baro kanalbuong
tapno agkamata koma mangmangkik
iti maysa a tawen a biag
ket ti timbatimba
a dara dagiti maidalit a gartem
tapno iti panangisakada kadagiti tagainep
ket ti embalsamado a maminribu a gagem
dagiti Ampatuan ken Goodbye Gloria
a no agbettak ket bukiradenda
ti sentido dagiti agmutmuttaleng a masa.

Mano nga ima
mano a barukong
mano amin a sellang ti ratraten
dagitoy a didigra manipud
iti buteng iti masukatan a tawen
tapno kadagiti selula ti bannawag
a kadagiti gumawgawawa
a tanem ket ti agpapauray a bangkay
dagiti salemsem iti kartaan nga uray
iti panakpak ti palibbuong
ti mammapatay a bala
ket ti agungarto a sakit ti nakem
dagiti naipatli kas pinanawanda
a lagip iti namnama
iti kaidatdaton nga atang kas iti kinalinteg?

Ampatuan ti awag
iti mangidagel
a paputok.

Goodbye Gloria ti birngas
dagiti amin a dagensen
nga iti barukong
ti bigat ket nasken nga iparaut,
igalut kadagiti amin
a sulinek ti ili
tapno iti makaulaw
a panagrikusrikos
dagiti lamlamiong
ti bulbullagaw a papauyot
ket ti matebba a lambaan
nga iti pitupulo
ket dua a seliado a lungon
ket padagsen
ti agharakiri a buyok.


A Solver Agcaoili
Marikina/Enero 2, 2009

A Monday Mourning

The setting for murder is perfect.

And the act is multiple,

in-the-face and full length

one ritual inaugurated

at Ampatuan but certainly

has been going on

before the history of our god-forsaken

lives got to have punitive lines.

Two days of planning

for your foes' death

complete with the innocent's script:

where the shallow graves would be

what deceptive reports would be released

to the president and her military men

what words would cover up

the lies of thieves and impertinent

gods who roam the wash of days

what sentences would judge

the mortal enemies of Monday mornings

like this one in this sad,

sorrowing Ampatuan,

when the just sun was up

with its bright lights shining

through the land with its tall grasses

that first covered the dastardly deed

the same land that would give off

the cover for the bodies of women,

some doing lawyering and giving logic

to the life of ending inequities

the bodies of our faith gone too soon

but awaiting redeeming

the bodies of the pregnant

dreaming of birthplaces and birthrights

and the citizenship we have

with an atrocious country such as ours

ruled by the big men

with monstrous desires

with their murderous declarations

of what basic freedoms are all about.

The gleaming guns came in handy

in the morning sun,

as was the shallow grave

from the backhoe

operated perhaps by fear

and the man who had to preside

over which fresh flesh came first

into the fresh mound.

What vision of a land is this

what country what nation

what community is it

that makes all these possible

this picture perfect view

of cheap deaths,

fifty-seven of them all, and the death

of what is possible after burying

our hopes with them who came

to Ampatuan to hope?

I grieve, I can only grieve.

I come from a faraway land

now but these images linger on

linger longer that I can hold on.

On a Monday morning like this one

is this mourning whose consonants

and vowels I cannot find.

A Solver Agcaoili

Manoa/Nov 24, 2009