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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.

Friday, July 22, 2011

LONGING





Childhood trains us/to expect the great ocean/of time around us, /endless, and always more/of it rolling in and away. /... There will always be/another and a next/and an after, even if we/are unable to know about it.---From “After After” by Hannah Stephenson, The Storialist, 07-21-11


LONGING

After after, is there anything or anyone left
to sing the hammock songs? After after,

will you still be there waiting,  a warm blanket
in your hands, to throw the flannel on my lap,

lest I drool myself to a sundown slumber
and promptly forget it gets cold in the winter?

Aiee, amor mio, despues de nuestros amores,
when love is gone, after all the countless days,

where shall we find that place called after?
If it is lost, too, will there always be another?


---Albert B. Casuga
07-21-11

*O, beloved, after all the loves  and loving,

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