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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.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

A GAME OF VOICES



A GAME OF VOICES
A game of voices, Father called it:
“It was his voice, he needed me,”
the weeping widow murmured.
Was it her pained longing echoed?
A cuckoo’s strained screech fills
the darkened corridors of elms,
mimicking a midnight owl’s. It is
an old call not unlike his old voice.
Was it his caress reaching out for her?
On moonlit nights like this, he would
sing to her a tremulous “Mexicali Rose”,
“I’ll come back to you some sunny day.”
The days have come and gone, but his
promise remains: an echo in the night.
—Albert B. Casuga
07-11-11

Prompt: Half past midnight in the moonlit forest, a cuckoo tried out the screech owl’s call. This morning, just a red-eyed vireo repeating himself.---Dave Bonta, The Morning Porch, 07-11-11


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