New Poem (Smoke Book)

my new poem is now posted at this link. thanks!
http://thesmokingbook.blogspot.com/2009/03/with-or-without-it.html

Published Story

one of my short stories was accepted in one of the leading family oriented magazine here in the Philippines (Good Housekeeping) and it will be out on April. Thank you, my dearest friend Richard, for everything!

Spring Haiku

tractor in the field
robin and her nestlings
sing with the noise

mama collects milk
from the mooing cow
on spring morn

with the robins singing
under a tree
I wrote my haiku

such joy
cherry blossom blooms
outside our classroom

A Season For Everything

SUMMER

wet bedsheet
from summer heat
or sudden pain?

throbbing pain
I change my turtleneck shirt
lump on my neck

sudden high fever
in mid summer noon
mom panics

early to bed
early to rise
still forsaken tired

sleepless nights
start to talk with me
in bed


FALL

after my appointment
outside the clinic
a maple leaf pats me

diagnosed at last
on my way home
withered leaves lead me

a crow flies above
the almost bare tree
premonition

full moon, night's deep
still wide awake from
the doctor's news

starched white sheet
covers now my sickbed
night falls early


WINTER

freezing white petals
start to pour in
glad my sickbed's warm

poems in my mind
while the snow falls
my meds kicking in

one winter night
on my sickbed I opened
my black album

on my sickbed
sound of rattling bottles of pills
and murmured prayers

the doctor comes in
new meds, strong ones
a snowstorm starts


SPRING

frankly I've been told
'no more cure, dear'
I sigh

in spring time
everything comes alive
except for me

smell of carnation
am I now laying on my
deathbed?

a sparrow sings
a song so sad
it's more like a lament

doctors gave up
my files now buried
in their memories

Back to School

Today i asked my eight year old daughter to come with me in my old school. i'm planning to go back to school on June and would like to take up Practical Nursing. well if things will work out just the way i plan, maybe i'll be on my way to studying again. wish me luck!

Miracle Stories

I've been writing and sending miracle stories to Chicken Soup for the Soul for almost a week now. I never knew how many stories my life have until I put it all down into words. now what I'm praying is another miracle... I hope that one of my stories will be published then.

Another Chapter

I know it's over

I know it's gone

every time mom throws the calendar

every time a new one hangs on the wall

every time the whole family gathers around

I know it's over

what the next year will bring

that I don't know

that I'm not sure

will it be different from the other year

or is it just a matter of number change?

but I know I'm sure

the passed year brought me tears

brought me laughter

brought me friends I've been searching for a long time

brought me flowers with scent that still lingered

brought me good news in golden wings

brought me bad, sad news in hearse

those things were in suitcase now

the cab's here waiting to take it all away

the ticket's on its pocket

one-way ticket

no turning back, last trip last chapter

in my life's journey

I sniffled

tears with reason I don't know

but it all made me

brave enough

smart enough

strong enough