Long Live Ka Tingting.

September is just around the corner. :) September has always been an important month for me, on the 11th is my birthday and LFS' anniversary, on the 17th is KL's birthday, on the 21st is Martial Law's anniversary which usually means a big mobilization and lastly on the 30th my aunt's death anniversary.

As tribute, I will post one of her poems here. Later, I will tell her story. For now, I hope you guys will like this.

Language of Reality

By: Mary Gene Dumaplin

They speak of distance

In hours to walk

Or in the length

Of bamboo poles.

Not in units of measurement.

They talk of space

In units of how many chupas

Or gantas of palay seeds

Can fill the land.

Not in acres.

They talk of red-letter days

In terms of full moons and

Harvest seasons.

Not calendars.

They talk of time

By the angles of shadows.

Not by wall clocks

Or wristwatches.

They name places after objects

And events easy for them

To describe, and close for them

To remember.

They tell of colors

In association with flowers

And butterflies.

Not by established names

Artists have known.

They talk of love

In the silence of emotion.

Not through love letters,

Chocolates and roses.

They talk of peace

In the midst of a raging war:

That there can't be one

Without a protracted

People's war.