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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, February 16, 2012

THE MIRROR


THE MIRROR 

When the face looks back at itself/ from the mirror, what does it see? ---From “First One, Then the Other” by Luisa A. Igloria, Via Negativa, 02-15-12 



Was it Fabianne Geismar’s* fantasy, lifting that mirror?
Mirror as loot in temblor-stricken Haiti is fantasy 

enough for that crumpled lass on the rubble of Haiti.
Haiti made sure the lass absconded too with enough 

bullets in her brain, rending a dream of seeing her face
face itself in a purloined vanity piece pocked with bullets 

when retrieved for Wal-Mart from her tight embrace. 

Embrace your mirror, girl, a trophy of blooming. When?
When stirrings in your haunches told you what to steal? 

Steal the heart of that lad staring at you with shy lust:
lust for love, for all that wreckage allows you to steal 

so you can see your mouth that will kiss him, your eyes,
eyes that will shape him in your breasts, your so… 

So supple body ripened quickly to life’s urgent quiver. 



---Albert B. Casuga
02-16-12


* SHOT DEAD FOR STEALING MIRRORS. Fabianne Geismar, 15, was shot by police pursuing looters.---Headline and Caption, The Toronto Star, Catastrophe in Haiti, Jan 20, 2009, Pg. 19

 



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