Excerpts from the book length poem "Melismas" by Marlon Hacla (translated from the Filipino by Kristine Ong Muslim) Artwork by Tilde Acuña

Excerpts from

Melismas

 

Because I had been given healing salts, objects
that bring restoration, I shall brave the ripeness
of the week for you. I will sing about strengths
that seek loneliness but capable of saving
the world from impairment caused by its own
design. I have no more use
for you but each time I discard
the list that condones your utility,
a rice paddy’s hue turns pale, blankets are suddenly blown away
to reach every layer of the sky.

 

***

 

If this turns out to be the music of my death,
then split the violins with an ax, open the chest
that holds the sabers, impose roundness on light
so that its vastness will be worshipped
by sound. Scrit-scratching on the roof, smoldering
nipa thatch, postponed sex, a dress
creased by the hem and then fondled
by a stranger’s hand. Birds subject themselves
to cross-examination by the wind.
And because these days the surroundings are becoming receptive
to the infiltration of joy, flowers erupt
to show their desperation
to change into some other form. Sin
and sin and sin and purple
electrified and shadowy goldenrod. Balustrades
coming to life when touched. The seven silences
identified through the movement
of miseries we have yet to examine,
are now a territory holding longer
rows of sorrow. My love, it is easier
for me now to go astray. This is no longer me.

 

***

 

Before silence grows deeper inside the houses,
there is talk of an imaginary hope,
experiments that try to make sense of the risks
associated with our plans. Eyes now
fade fast. Supplications, always
new every morning, become inadequate in new ways
every second. Needlessly handed over. Held steady.

 

***

 

They had melted: the bouquets
for the pahiyas, all ripped apart, slid under
the intermittent light of fishermen.
Is it because of the bundle of sound? Is it because
one dozen cows are whimpering to be spared
from the Feast of the Great Cover Up? Onward,
even if your beloved writhes in pain. Blouses
contort themselves into pretty shapes, onward. Nightmares
devour colors, onward.

 

*** *** ***

 

 

Mula sa Melismas

 

Dahil binigyan ako ng asing-gamot, mga bagay
na naghihilom, susuong ako sa pagkahinog
ng linggo para sa iyo. Sisipol ng mga lakas
na mapag-isa ngunit sapat upang sagipin
ang paligid mula sa paglilibing ng sarili
nitong disenyo. Wala ka nang pakinabang
sa akin ngunit sa tuwing binibitawan ko
ang listahan ng iyong mga kabuluhan,
pumupusyaw ang palayan, biglang inililipad
ang mga kumot sa lahat ng antas ng kaitaasan.

 

***

 

Kung musika ito ng sarili kong kamatayan,
sibakin ang mga byola, buksan ang sisidlan
ng mga sable, bilugin ang isang liwanag
upang sa kalakihan nito’y dakilain ito
ng mga tunog. Kaluskos sa atipan, nagniningas
na pawid, ipinagpalibang pagtatalik, bestidang
nilulukot ang laylayan at hinahaplos
ng ibang palad pagkatapos. Nagbibigay
ng panayam ang mga ibon sa hangin.
At dahil sensitibo ngayon ang paligid
sa mga panloloob ng ligaya, nagpuputukan
ang mga bulaklak bilang desperasyon
tungo sa pag-iibang anyo. Kasalanan
at kasalanan at kasalanan at purpurang
de kuryente at dilimang solidago. Barandilyang
nabubuhay kapag hinihipo. Pitong katahimikang
ang pagkakakilanlan ay nasa paggalaw
ng mga pagdurusang hindi pa namin inuusisa,
isa nang teritoryo ng isang mas malawak
na hanay ng lumbay. Mahal, madali
na akong mawala. Hindi na ako ito.

 

***

 

Bago lumalim ang katahimikan sa mga kabahayan,
usap-usapan ang imahinaryong espero,
mga eksperimentong kakapa sa mga logro
ng ating binabalak. Mabilis na ngayong naluluma
ang mga mata. Ang mga pagsusumamo, laging
sariwa bawat umaga, nag-iiba ng mga kakulangan
bawat sandali. Ipinapasa-pasa. Namamalagi.

 

***

 

Nalusaw ang mga palumpon
ng pahiyas, sumabog, pumailalim
sa pagkislap ng mga mangingisda.
Dahil sa talaksan ng tunog? Dahil
sa isang dosenang bakang nagsusumamo
para sa Pista ng Dakilang Pagtatago? Sulong,
kahit na namimilipit ang iyong sinta. Magaganda
ang korte ng mga baro, sulong. Nanginginain
ng kulay ang mga bangungot, sulong.

 

*** *** ***

 

 

 

Marlon Hacla is a programmer, writer, and photographer. His first book, May Mga Dumadaang Anghel sa Parang (Manila: National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2010), was published as part of UBOD New Authors Series II. His second book, Glossolalia, was published by High Chair in 2013. He also released two chapbooks, Labing-anim na Liham ng Kataksilan (2014) and Melismas (2016). Excerpts from Melismas, translated by Kristine Ong Muslim, have appeared or are forthcoming in Bat City Review, The Columbia Review, Sou’wester, Timber, and Words without Borders. In 2017, he created the first robot poet in Filipino, Estela Vadal, as a Twitter bot with the Twitter handle @estelavadal. He lives in Quezon City, Philippines, with his cats.

 

Kristine Ong Muslim, who grew up and continues to live in a rural town in southern Philippines, is the author of nine books, including the fiction collections Age of Blight (Unnamed Press, 2016), Butterfly Dream (Snuggly Books, 2016), and The Drone Outside (Eibonvale Press, 2017), as well as the poetry collections Lifeboat (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2015), Meditations of a Beast (Cornerstone Press, 2016), and Black Arcadia (University of the Philippines Press, 2017). She is co-editor of two anthologies—the British Fantasy Award-winning People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction and Sigwa: Climate Fiction Anthology from the Philippines, an illustrated volume forthcoming from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Press. Widely anthologized, her short stories have appeared in Conjunctions, Tin House, and World Literature Today.

 

Tilde Acuña teaches at the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature – University of the Philippines, where he earned an M.A. in Philippine Studies (Philippine literature and art studies). His visuals appeared in pages of Kritika Kultura, high chair, transit, UP Forum, Bulatlat, Pingkian, and others; his recent zines include Apo sa Ika-22 Siglo: Mga Abstrak (2017) and Klasiko Katalogo (2018). Tomás: Literary Journal of the Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (University of Sto. Tomas, 2014) and Thursday Never Looking Back (Youth & Beauty Brigade, 2012) initially published illustrations herein.