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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, June 3, 2011

A BURDEN OF THINGS


So often the world/ overturns in the bowl of the spoon./…And still I forgive its afflictions…
A BURDEN OF THINGS
There are built-in chambers of grace
and afflictions in the heart of things;
we enter them more often than not
when we least expect to be touched
by what we find or do not find there.
In there, loving finds the lover unloved,
hoping thwarts the dreamer at every turn;
faithfulness, teetering on the cup of fate,
falls off flailing and finds betrayal instead.
In faith, these are wages of a lost paradise,
which, as twin-faced harlequins, we strive
to regain, no longer with pure passion
but perhaps haplessly with suppliant prayer
that we might receive because we are wiser
and have learned to forgive. But not forget.
—Albert B. Casuga
06-02-11

Poem Prompt: “Mineral Song”, by Luisa A. Igloria, Via Negativa, 06-01-11 http://www.vianegativa.us/2011/06/mineral-song/

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