ANALOG, Malakas St.

By Emmanuel Hizon


Small joint
Small talk
Cheap beers
Cheap thrills
Pink Floyd
In vinyl
Melancholic
Psychedelic

Debate
Articulate
Drink more
Deliberate
Drink more
Communicate
Intoxicated
Intellectually inebriated.

The children will play
The children will play
Hear their stories, songs and fears.
The children will play
The children will play
of hide and seek games
yet, nobody disappears.


Heavy rain
Big flood
We stay
You stay
You looked
I looked
Our best friend is our peripherals.

Past loves
Oh how they stay
Old school
Will you just go away?
Ancient
Archaic
Previous.
Before.

Do I need to drink in a 'museum' that is so full of you?
Do I need to get drunk with my forgotten self-imaginings of you?
Must I puke on the carcass--of what is left of us?
Must I wake up with a hangover of trying to get over you?

Oh, Analog. Primordials are the most painful of all.

Airport

by Emmanuel Hizon

Road after road of listless sights and fears, will you be here?
Night after night of sleepless hours of darkness,
wondering where you will be
Wondering where I will be.

And everything feels like the same
Nothing new
Except a few

Everything feels like the same
Consistently
Inevitably

Day after day of numb daydreaming, callous wandering
Hour after hour of counting infinity
Where do I begin?

And everything are shades of gray
Not black and white
I feel so gray

Everything is colored drab
No boundaries
Left for me.

Happy Birthday

Beinte Nueve...Malapit na sa Bangin.

Learning Curve

In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.
- Albert Camus

Maraming pangalan ang kalungkutan

Rowan Canlas Velonta

Nakikita mo sila sa iba’t-ibang hugis
Lumilitaw silang paisa-isa o sabay-sabay
Nagpapasalin-salin sa mga labi, sa mga pisngi
Dumadampi sa mga guhit ng palad sa kamay
Dumadadagan sa dibdib sa yakap na mahigpit.

Nagpaparamdam sila nang walang pasintabi -
Sa madaling-araw, sa tanghali o sa kalaliman ng gabi.
At madalas kung walang pagsidlan lumalabas sila
Sa mga lansangan, nakakasalubong mo sa tawiran
Humahangos kapag green na ang signal.

Sumasakay sila, nakikipagsiksikan sa MRT pa-Ayala
Nasa huling upuan sa bus papuntang Alabang
O taga-abot ng bayad sa jeep na biyaheng Baclaran.
Umuupo sila sa may fountain area sa Glorietta
O kasabay mong humihigop ng white choco mocha.

Nagsusuot sila ng iba’t-ibang estilo, bago o retro
Nanganganak ng maraming kulay, humahalo
Sa karamihan minsan kusang humihiwalay:
Matingkad na pula, itim, puting-puti, basta sari-sari
Ang tubog ng balat, ng damit, ng buhok, ng labi.

Kinakawayan sila, binabati ng kakilala,
Nakakabunggo, nakakasabay sa daan
Tinatawag sa maraming pangalan ang kalungkutan
Sa iba’t-ibang araw, sa iba’t-ibang lugar
Kahit pa nananahan sa iisang katawan.

Perfect Day

By Lou Reed
Transformer (1972)

Just a perfect day,
Drink Sangria in the park,
And then later, when it gets dark,
We go home.
Just a perfect day,
Feed animals in the zoo
Then later, a movie, too,
And then home.

Oh it's such a perfect day,
I'm glad I spent it with you.
Oh such a perfect day,
You just keep me hanging on,
You just keep me hanging on.

Just a perfect day,
Problems all left alone,
Weekenders on our own.
It's such fun.
Just a perfect day,
You made me forget myself.
I thought I was someone else,
Someone good.

Oh it's such a perfect day,
I'm glad I spent it with you.
Oh such a perfect day,
You just keep me hanging on,
You just keep me hanging on.

You're going to reap just what you sow,
You're going to reap just what you sow,
You're going to reap just what you sow,
You're going to reap just what you sow...


"Perfect Day" is a song written by Lou Reed in 1972. Its fame was given a boost in the 1990s when it was featured in the 1996 film Trainspotting, and after its release as a charity single in 1997.

The song was originally featured on the 1972 album Transformer. The song's lyrics are often considered to suggest simple, conventional romantic devotion, possibly alluding to Reed’s relationship with Bettye Kronstadt (soon to become his first wife) and Reed’s own conflicts with his sexuality, drug use and ego.[1]

However, on a deeper reading of the song's lyrics, amongst the idealised description of a "perfect day", interposed lines such as "You just keep me hanging on", and "I thought I was someone else, someone good" suggest a far deeper yearning than just the superficial romantic cliches, and allude to the underlying and painful bitterness of nostalgia often felt even as an event is lived - an event one knows or fears to be a mere distraction or illusion.

Some commentators have further seen the lyrics as displaying Reed's romanticised attitude towards a period of his own addiction to heroin. Critics of this view assert that Reed never tried to conceal his drug use, so the song does not have concealed meanings of this nature. However, this popular belief of the song's underlying meaning gave many across the United Kingdom a smile when the BBC used the song and the charity version was released.

Reed re-recorded the song for his 2003 album The Raven.

(sourced from wikipedia)

Open Sea

By Emmanuel Hizon

She is a shipwreck
Feral tide in love with disorder
Overthrowing life
An orgy of pandemonium and un-peace
Drowning the unbelievers
Dragging to uncertainty who do

She is the brave blissfulness of disarray
Watching bodies upon bodies of desperation
Seeking air,
Clutching to whatever handles just to live
Their tired reruns
Holding on to loveless loves

Will you trespass the depths of her sanity
And plunge to the bosom of her promise?
The promise of getting you lost
You, closet wanderer, broken compass
Lonely lost and found attendant person
Finding almost everything, everyone
Except yourself.

Make love to her; make love to the open sea
Embrace her
Succumb to her
Resist her
Rebel for and against her
Break away
Swim wherever.