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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.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

A WRITER'S CRAFT: SALONS OF MEMORY


 
 
A WRITER’S CRAFT

Even the crevices will be covered with moss,
And grass before it. Cracks on these memorials
Are stories told and retold where burial grounds
Are salons of the lingering undead, memory
Hounds like incessant rain. Nothing is ever lost.

Only elegies stay, a language of remembrance
For all who would care anyway. Like tombs,
They have embellished narratives of kindness,
Gentleness, rectitude, abiding flames of love.
Like Taj Mahal, these remain unextinguished.

Stones or pillars, marble markers, or epitaphs
Recall these lost lives and loves from crevices
Covered with moss and grass before it, but all
Will sprout from mute and scorched earth
Like words cranked out of pain in an empty heart.

--- Albert B. Casuga

 

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