World Read Aloud Day 2013

Two days ago, the planet celebrated the World Read Aloud Day--well, those who knew about the event, that is. I contributed six oral reading pieces--two are poetry and the rest are excerpts from four of my favorite books. 

I've archived them here for you who want a quick peek. Also for future references. Oh, I have a late contribution! I was not able to publish it on March 6 because I left the recording on my phone. Loser. I know.

This last one's from Charles Bukowski. I apologize for the bored, droning voice. Hope you can understand at least 70 percent of what I am reading. Haha! It was hard to make these videos because the only editing software I have right now is Windows Moviemaker. And I tell you, it is not user friendly. At all. I can't find a decent Adobe Premiere Pro installer. Leche. 

Anyway, here they are. Enjoy! Or don't. Your life.

I'm Nobody! Who Are You? by Emily Dickinson

Para Kay B by Ricky Lee

Super Panalo Sounds! by Lourd de Veyra

Wag Lang Di Makaraos by Eros Atalia

A-Side/B-Side by Vlad Bautista Gonzales

Inventory by Dorothy Parker

Selected poems of Charles Bukowski

Scribbles on Blank Pages

An artist fears a blank canvas

A writer fears a blank paper

Is there a difference if the paper is lined?

Will lines stimulate the doubting mind?

I, for one, am baffled by blank spaces

I might not survive if you forced me to minimalism!

The blank paper is a cage

Trapping my thoughts within its four, white corners

So I scribble and I doodle and I scribble some more

I would have doodled all the way if I knew how to draw

Scribble, scribble, scribble

Scribble, scribble, scribble

I scribble until my blank page is full

Alas! My thoughts are still nowhere

Or everywhere—

Scattering fear and frustration in my messed up

Hole of a room

created: March 8, 2013

Tanaga Para Kay Milo David

Ikaw ay nalulunod

Sa ulan sumusugod

Kalungkutang lunas ay

Musika at pagka-high

Photo credit: Google Images

Of Dreams and Bullshit

Yes, you can be a millionaire

Just close your eyes and dream

All that bullshit they say about perseverance?

They’re not true at all

I’ve seen men

Working all their lives

For a meager salary

They get at the end of every month

I’ve heard of men

Sleeping on silk sheets

Playing king all their lives

A little problem and it’s suicide—or prison

You can find true love

Just close your eyes and imagine

All that bullshit they say about destiny?

They’re as real as the diwata

You hear in stories

They exist only if you believe

If you close your eyes

And you wish really hard——

Bullshit. The lot of it is bullshit.

created: March 7, 2013

Wila

I can see your lanky figure

Half running, half stomping

Shoulders stiff

Eyes darting from left to right

--

I can hear your voice

Can hear you tell stories not from this world

Can see myself squirm from your shrieks

Can see me beam with pride while you sing

--

You dwell in your fantasies (and books and loves!)

You're a klutz

But you have real gumption

You're weird, but I love you

For Ruwila's birthday (March 4, 1991)

Hopeless

In the depths of my desperation, I scream for help. No one hears but this little voice inside my head. But it does nothing to help my cries. It does nothing but whisper tiny words of doubt, slowly seeping into my tarnished armor. It feeds on my frustrations. It gnaws at my depression. It devours my confidence and spits out hundreds of haunting figures—fragments of my old self turned into mosaics of pretense. That little voice feeds on the dark secrets that drown me to insanity. It grows louder than my fears—keeping me awake in the middle of the night, trapping me inside my own mind.

Encounter at the Pedestrian Crossing

Did you know I would fall

The minute you said excuse me?

Did you see my eyes sparkle

As you smiled and said hello?

--- 

Did you see me gawk

As you moved those tempting lips?

Did you know I couldn’t hear you

Over the thumping of my nerves?

---- 

Did your heart flutter

When I smiled and said thank you?

Was there longing in your eyes

When I turned and walked away?

--- 

I would have turned back

If I knew you felt it too

But, in the end,

I will never know, will I?

In the end, we will never know.

created: February 20, 2013