"Face and heart"
by Francisco Alarcon

may our ears hear
what nobody wants to hear

may our eyes see
what everyone wants to hide

may our mouths speak
our true faces and hearts

may our arms be branches
that give shade and joy

let us be a drizzle,
a sudden storm,
let us get wet in the rain

let us be the key, the hand, the door
the kick, the ball, the road

let us arrive as children
to this huge playground: the universe

If I have a single song to make my week, it has to be Dancing In The Dark...

"I ain't nothing but tired.... Man, I'm just tired and bored with myself... Hey there baby, I could use just a little help.."

"You sit around getting older... There's a joke here somewhere and it's on me.. I'll shake this world off my shoulders ..come on baby this laugh's on me."

Springsteen got that one nailed! Too bad, it's too danceable to be depressing.

Prestidigitation.

Fun word isn't it? Prestidigitation.

I like how it rolls in my tongue.

It means "performance of or skill in performing magic or conjuring tricks with the hands." That or " a show of skill or deceitful cleverness."

I like the meaning better. Deceitful cleverness.

Prestidigitation.

How deliciously villainous.

The Kama Sutra of Kindness: Position No. 2

should I greet you
as if
we had merely eaten
together one night
when the white birches
dripped wet
and lightning etched
black trees on your walls?

it is not love
I am asking

love comes from years
of breathing
skin to skin
tangled in each other's dreams
until each night
weaves another thread
in the same web
of blood and sleep

and I have only
passed through you quickly
like light
and you have only
surrounded me suddenly
like flame

the lake is cold
the snows are sudden
the wild cherry bends
and winter's a burden

in your hand I feel
spring burn in the bud.

Manila, My Manila

Feeding the intrepid soul could do you wonders. This I swear.

I found out how the old, the quaint, the charming, and even, the abandoned, could be a soothing balm for the battered spirit. The heady mix of the old and the new is strangely rejuvenating and uplifting.

I re-discovered Manila, it's hidden charms and little secrets in one fading afternoon -- when after rubbing elbows with a Spanish culture club of sorts at the Instituto for the Book Fair, I had a sudden flash of inspiration to go exploring and to happily get "lost" in the streets of the city. Enlisting fellow pilgrims -- Fretti, Des, and Jo -- was easy, likely companions eager to find little gems along the way.

We took off like Don Quixote to the windmills. Passing through and staring in awe at the streets inside this city bathed in the afternoon's rose colored hues -- old streets, quaint architecture, cracks in its old walls, cobbled streets... and other lost and rather obscure yet pretty things..






Manila is not that ugly when you come to think of it. Its charm comes out when you least expect it.

Here's to finding more beauty in this city we would all love to hate (thanks Jo of Manilarat for the quote)..

I've always had a theory that Mondays were invented as a torture device designed to keep the human race in place and iremember that all is not supposed to be peachy keen.. that pain is a necessary element... yada yada..

Like most corporate peons go, I started mine with a bang. My boss -- the harbinger of doom and a looming presence of malevolence -- felt the need to put me in place and remind me that I am merely bottom feeder in this office, or otherwise in my opinion, this howling wasteland of abject misery. I had to keep my foul mouth in place lest I lash out and find myself in a slew of trouble.

Why is it then that Mondays are so despicable? Bosses, deadlines, gossipmongers, rush hour traffic.. Mondays are the black holes of the week. Every possible dilemma slash whatever-shit-hits-the-fan-drama happens on this day. 24 hours is a torturous, arduous stretch between the pull of the sun and the moon. Not to mention chucking in the boss factors.

This leads me to another theory that Mondays and Bosses are twins and are born 5 minutes apart in the lower bolgias of the corporate inferno.

I hate. I loathe. I despise. Me odio Mondays.