Farmers marching towards Manila

Farmers .. tillers of my land
far away on
the move, marching
chanting their voice hoarse
trying to crack the glass
heavens for genuine change
and peace that is so
elusive in the present dictatorial
regime of the puppet
president

glued to the boob tube
wishing I am home

the great multitude of my
people raising their angry fists
defying the State that's never
for them ... for their children
and my own ... for all brown skinned
indios, peasants, proletariats
and the working class ... wherever we
may be ...

the doll with the throbbing black mole
must be brought dowN


rey

rice 1

Remembering I used
to eat rice every single
morning, as bright tropical
sun start to peek at the
horizon, as there is NO excuse
whatsoever .. as rice equates to
strength and vigor
to carry me through that particular
day as in rice and dried fish, or
rice and egg, or rice and slippery
vegetables termed as "laswa" or
even rice with shrimp
anything as there MUST
be rice at the dining table
before I explode and run
to catch the jeepney to
school in the middle of the city ...

I feel sleepy in the subway train
this morning as the steel hollow vessels
lumber through he cavernous tracks
I actually caught a few minute catwinks!

I wonder if the bread got something to
do with it .... or my body craving for rice ...

January 14, 2010
(NYPH-Cornell Library before going to F10 to work)

perfect day

Perfect day to kick the dark clouds
to snuff the melancholia that
forever bound me .. of the pelting
drops of gray rain so heavy it's like
the entirety of Hoover Dam ...

The will to write so willfully
and embrace the emerging rosy
dawn of relative lightness ... it just
can not rain all the time in the
orb of my being ...

I open the door ...
and take a peek outside
raising my banner on this
red-letter day
of transformation.

12/04/2009

letter to CEGP Congress (from the US based alumni)

A fiery and militant greetings to the officers, delegates and friends of the 69th CEGP National Convention.

It is with profound joy and pride for us to literally witness the evolution of the Guild where student writers can meet, be informed, discuss and generate resolutions about the present state of the nation. Just like what we did a decade or two ago.

Student writers have a very important role in effecting change in the society. You can not just remain a silent witness to the worsening economic crisis, human rights violations, US intervention to the Philippine affairs, and other harsh realities that the Filipino people endure. Much as student writers nurture and dedicate time in their love of writing, more so must their resolve be in seeking the flame of truth, and the zeal of commitment of serving the people.

A lot of us CEGP alumni left the country, be it by choice, by necessity or systemic victims of the government sponsored Labor Export Policy or LEP. Some of us are in the continental United States. Together with the majority of other OFWs, we are in the situation where we see our native country from afar. In our present locality, we were able to generate objective generalizations on the historical context of our present national problems.

And it always go back to the 3 social evils that for a long time plagued the Filipino people – Imperialism, Feudalism and Bureaucrat-Capitalism.

You are in this Congress to learn and be moved to do something positive about the experience. To absorb the experience is not enough. To write about the clouds and the wind is not the reason why you are part of your campus paper. You are a student writer with a purpose of helping advance the struggle of student rights for a nationalist, scientific and mass-oriented education and by far, you help advance the militant struggle of the oppressed Filipino people.

A bright tomorrow awaits us all. Commit yourself to the fight of the College Editors Guild. Struggle and advance the Activist Campus Press!!!


Signed:
Rey Arnel Agudana , CEGP 1993 – La Salle Spectrum
Gardini Labao, CEGP 1992 - Bulacan
Yancy Mark -Gandionco , CEGP 2002 - Cebu