Two Poems by Fhen M

 

𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙁𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙈𝙚 

 

in the moonlit night, light bulb is turned on 

over bright page of astronomy book: 

a mouse, his stomach is empty, 

determines the distance of moon from earth: 

the number of gallons of hydrogen 

to fly to the moon and 

return to this Terra. 

at night, it's crystal in the telescope 

Luna in the sky is an Alpine style  

and hoping to bite the moon cheese. 

 

NASA published an image 

of the moon made of cheese 

and will expire on the day of April Fool 

that's why the astronaut mouse hastily 

invented a flying rocket ship. 

  

fly to the moon and landed there 

he nibbles the moon cheese and shallow 

and instantly his teeth are broken 

like waves smash on the beach. 

 

the moon is indeed a green cheese 

don't fool me, switch off your moonlight 

won't call for you, won't kneel to it 

you can't heal this hungry stomach of mine. 

 

I have a rocket ship 

flies to the sky 

if I just bought food 

I'd be full by now.

 

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝘽𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙤

(𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒆)

 

my first verse in English idiom  

written in a Waray-speaking classroom  

 

there, I met my first Muse 

sat on a dark-walnut armchair  

 

a school boy studied the concept of eros  

by Jacinto and Philippine philosophers 

 

a teenager wrote a love poem 

no other love exceeds its purity and greatness  

 

the school armchair was a spacecraft  

voyaged to the sphere of burning Venus  

 

there, with Folco’s guitar, I sang 

the song An Iroy nga Tuna.

Fhen M - studied the academic subjects Writing in the Discipline, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴, and The Literature of the World at Eastern Visayas State University. His Waray poem “Uyasan” (“Toy” in English”) was published in a collection of literary works entitled 𝘗𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘭𝘪: 15 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘸. His English verses appeared in 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢 anthology series published by Clarendon House, including "Lighthouse," “Seaport,” “January Constellations,” among others. Red Penguin Books’ 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦: 𝘈 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘰𝘧-𝘈𝘨𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 published his piece “Outside the Block Universe". His poem “Sea Snail” is included in 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘢/𝘍𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘢 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 by Open Shutter Press. Fhen M. submitted verses in Waray for the 5th Lamiraw Creative Writing Workshop, including the 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺 “Duha nga mga pagtug-an” (translated in English as “Two confessions”). David Genotiva, Merlie Alunan, and Victor Sugbo were some of the distinguished panellists of this writing workshop held from the 5th to the 7th of November 2008. His Binisaya poems “To View the World,” “Those who were Left in Cancabatoc,” and other verses won the 1st Chito Roño Literary Awards.