Of our country’s 7,461 islands, only 2,000 are inhabited and about 5,000 are yet to be named. But the population of the Philippines today, by some estimates running up to 110 million, presents a staggeringly confusing picture of where exactly we are on the map.
...1998
I had almost forgotten that I was in some kind of war when I woke up on the first day of summer break to Norman yelling, “Pulitika!” He raised a pistol and pointed it at the ceiling of mirrors in the ballroom.
“Pulitika!” Mama and their cronies said in return, also aiming arms at my sweet, spectacular glass puzzle above. I prayed they wouldn’t fire and...
We all heard the shots, a faint crack at first, then growing louder and more insistent, like a parade with the drummer gone wild. I counted them right away – one, two, three, four, five… I turned to my family gathered round the dinner table and pointed with a shaky finger – one, two, three, four, five – me, one husband, two sons and a golden retriever that has zoomed under the table at the sound of the third bang. It has become an unspoken standing order for us these days; if you hear a shot, you turn around and count the members of your family, especially if you have sons. Make sure they’re all accounted for. I already knew mine were, but perhaps it was my body tensing up and curving my index finger into fight or flight.
...Something. Sight.
Depth. Water quickly making sense.
Plot. Coastlines. Animals emerging. Flight and fall. Ground and collision.
Tone. Exposure and gradations. The relenting of dark. More views and hues.
Texture....
Five months into a mid-career gap year, I traveled to Bacolod, the capital city of Negros Occidental, Sugar Bowl of the Philippines.
“Why not go on an epic trip around the world instead?” a friend suggested. “When will you have this chance again?”
“This is a very nice place,” said Aya, our Cambodian intern, one long breath after the big, red Rural bus dropped us off the highway in front of the Aleosan Public Market in North Cotabato.
As if reading my mind, she added, “It doesn’t look like a conflict area.”...
With all that’s been happening in this country I will always call home, people like me who live overseas are less likely to want to visit. Of course, there are cities more beautiful than Manila. Which is not to say that this sprawling gray city does not have its own corners of loveliness. It does.
...What eventually stayed was a detail
you never got to name: what the eyes meant
when they flashed like enemies, protecting lie
after lie, or how it was any different to shape the hand...