ON CRAFTING THE FUTURE

ON CRAFTING THE FUTURE

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

What is

the promising denouement

of aspirations for betterment

by all the Earth’s dispossessed

if not that

the fidelity

to the visions

they’ve conceived

can unfold

in their nonpassive

creation.

Yes, the future

has shapes and forms

that can be exquisitely

crafted.

[Writ. 27 Sept. 1987, University of the Philippines, QC.]

POLL AUTOMATION

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


My country has always been a den of thieves and crooks
A den of poll cheaters likewise who’d feign no mercy
In the use of guns, goons, gold, glitches

Our polls for over a century have been
Through ballots and manual counting of hands
Even the dead were known to cast vote
While many occasions of vote buying
Spiced up later with ballot snatching
Peppered with hundreds of ambushed dead
Polling has become a cheap enterprise
Subject of guffaws of a million buffoons

Till finally this year 2010
Across the archipelago our eyes were gladdened
As poll machines appeared at last in the precints
Where our folks cast their votes like enthused kids
Gleefully amazed finally at the rapid result
Churning numbers as fast as grand rapids
Finally we’d say justice had come to our polls
As the numbers we can now believably say
Is truthful enough to merit our golden valuation

[Philippines, 22 May 2010]

[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,
UNLADTAU: http://unladtau.wordpress.com,
COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com,
BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com, ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com,
ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com]

MORNING

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Morning is a wondrous haven
It emboldens me to beg the plants around
Tell me where’s the heavenly gate
That leads me, leads me
To the folds of Aphrodite
With whom I can best fashion queries
About the whereabouts of my sweet
Lifetime partner

For indeed weary had I grown
I am disdained by time and fate
Faulted though I am guiltless
I simply hasn’t seen the least chimera
Of my love desire even if ‘tis were
But a mere chimera


[Writ. 03 June 1991, Cubao, Quezon City, M.Manila]

MORNING RHYTHM

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Silence breaks
Morning mist
Meets the day anew in sweet embrace
Birds aflight
Cats shall rest
As the sun erases evening’s haze.
Buses roll
Flies a-swarm
Off abound they’re freed from bottle’s cork.
Grandpas sneer
Dads consume
Coffee and news pages before work.
Crackers crack
Mobiles whine
Hospitals’ own occupants balloon.
Traffic grows
Roads go blocked
Terrified policeman act like goon.
Planes arrive
Flyers rest
Peddlers sell their wares with lemonade.
Bags prepared
Pockets swing
Joy’s corrupt official’s mood in trade.


[Writ. 19 October 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]

THE SUN OUR KIN

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


It’s true the Sun will lay to rest
On the day’s end after his toil
And give way to the nighttime hours
When ravagers despoil amid our slumbers
But sure enough the morning comes
And Sun radiates our Land anew
Each smile he sports enervates our longings
For better times of wealth and wellbeing
He never tires to shed us rays of care
He never retreats without sharing heraldries
Of what our strivings will bring forth
A sturdier and well esteemed commonwealth
He shall ever be there when we need him
A kin indeed our light of liberty


[Writ. 07 October 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]