unMoorEd

By Aidan Bernales

᠅

Long shirt like I’m freshly circumcised
Lord, I just can’t be bothered
To put one foot in front of the other
Even for pants, even for ants
Who trek a hundred miles for something sweet
They sniffed it out on my frowning knee
A petal’s velvet underside landed
Its sticky tongue on me!
It is a blessing! So I scrape it off

You scraped it off?
Even my karma regrets me

Call me a sorry mess, but well-framed
Waited for a jeep that never came
But really it did, and it stopped in front of me
The tsuper even beckoned me by name
Tugged on my silken salmon sleeve
I didn’t board it, I walked back home
And professed we could never meet

I ponder the problem of moonlight
Every noontime before I fall asleep:
“What does it take to feel belonged-to?”

I long to be moored, to be moored by you
But what comes out my sorry mouth is me me me

᠅

Aidan Bernales is a Filipino writer. His creative works have appeared in publications in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and India, among others. He graduated from Ateneo de Manila University where he was a recipient of the prestigious Raul L. Locsin Journalism Scholarship. He works for Rappler. @aidanreuel @poemsbyaids