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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.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

OPENING THE CRISPER: A FUGUE

Photo by Bobby Wong, Jr., Philippines

OPENING THE CRISPER: A FUGUE


There can be joy /in opening the crisper, finding /a third of a sweet potato on /the brink of mold or dessication. /There is still a way to save this.---From “In What World” by Hannah Stephenson, The Storialist 07-10-12



1.
It is not too late, there is still time.
Time enough to start all over again?


Time enough to peel off rotten edges,
Look new as cankered limbs, hearts


Of darkness lit by flickering starlight.
There will be time, and time to save


Even this hapless piece of wriggling
Worm, this man, this shadow of life


Creeping into sunlit shelters where
Crawling is de rigueur for the tenant


Of this place, this earth, this hole
From whose depths we late emerge


From shall so soon expire to claim
An orbit among the rended remains


Of body and soul and his illusions
Of immortality, his undying atoms.



2.
In what world will we find happiness
Again? In what place, a fresh start?


Like that moldy sweet potato left
In a crisper, there must still be a way


To save it for an evening’s repast
When this hunger gnaws no limits


In this suspected late night diner
And one orders something sweet,


Something filling while we wait
For brighter mornings in this desert.


But if that morning will not come.
What is there to save but saving?


It will be late then. Who will require
Bright days, cloudless skies, or joy?



---Albert B. Casuga
07-10-12



2 comments:

Hannah Stephenson said...

Loved this one.

Food tells us a lot, doesn't it...

ALBERT B. CASUGA said...

Tell me what your food is, and I'll tell you who you are. Thanks for the love. Albert