Jay M. Pascual

With chaste heart, and pure eyes I celebrate you, my beauty, restraining my blood so that the line surges and follows your contour, and you bed yourself in my verse, as in woodland, or wave-spume: earth’s perfume, sea’s music. Nakedly beautiful, whether it is your feet, arching at a primal touch of sound or breeze, or your ears, tiny spiral shells from the splendor of America’s oceans. Your breasts also, of equal fullness, overflowing with the living light and, yes, winged your eyelids of silken corn that disclose or enclose the deep twin landscapes of your eyes. The line of your back separating you falls away into paler regions then surges to the smooth hemispheres of an apple, and goes splitting your loveliness into two pillars of burnt gold, pure alabaster, to be lost in the twin clusters of your feet, from which, once more, lifts and takes fire the double...

My son's name is Kahlil Ross. I named him after my favorite poet Kahlil Gibran.  The Ross was derived from his grandfather's name, Rosello.  So he became Kahlil Ross. Last Christmas, Kahlil got an MP5 from his Tita Mia, who works in Florida.  His new toy is a combo game console, MP3 player, MiniDV, and a 10-megapixel digicam. At first, Kahlil was fascinated by the built-in games of his MP5. He calls it "PSP" but it was far from that expensive gaming console.  Then he discovered the camera features of his toy.  He immediately went amok shooting everything in his path.  Well I hope he can sustain his shooting-spree passion.  By the way, here are some of the pictures he took while running gung-ho with his toy-cam. More on his pictures in my future posts. :-)

Noong Marso 29, 2009, ipinakilala sa publiko ni George T. Calaor ang kaniyang unang aklat: Ang Uyayi ng Himagsik.   Ang Uyayi ng Himagsik ay kalipunan ng mga makabayang tula na nagsasalamin ng mga karanasan ng may-akda bilang isang aktibong kalahok sa Pambansa Demokratikong pakikibaka.  Si G. Calaor ang kasalukuyang Tagapangulo ng Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) sa lalawigan ng Aklan.  Bago siya manungkulan sa Bayan, si George ay matagal na naging lider kabataan sa Kalibo at aktibong kasapi ng College Editor's Guild of the Philippines. Bakas na bakas ang diwang palaban ng may-akda sa kaniyang panulaan.  Bunsod marahil ito ng kaniyang malawak na karanasan sa larangan ng legal na pakikibaka sa Isla ng Panay. Hindi rin maikakaila ang taglay na optimismo ng may-akda para sa kaniyang ipinaglalaban.  Sa di iilang mga tula sa Uyayi ng Himagsik, lagi at lagi itong tinatapos ni G. Calaor sa pananagumpay ng kaniyang adhikain. Ang Uyayi ng Himagsik Ang Uyayi...