Issue 003 – pagpag

Alexandre U. Cabilte

pagpag^[1]

Tonight, stars rival the sleeping
street lamps. The dark grows longer,
my shadow interrupts the light’s downpour
from arriving on the pavement.

The myth goes,
I am tugging you along like a mailman
with his sack of letters to be jettisoned somewhere.
We will soon reach a local painitan^[2] –

Your favorite puto bumbong^[3] and bibingka^[4]
staring dumbly from fogged glass displays.
Above our heads, a lone electric bulb
expels light warm as mandarin peels.

I will have ginger tea and drunk stories
the next table scraped from their day jobs.
Neighborhood dogs will point
to the waning moon, wailing in chorus.

The myth further goes. We will part here.
Tomorrow, I will return to the city.
To its frenetic highways, its mob of stores.
They will have no memory of you.

Abuela^[5] used to say it was only kind to do so.
Kind to settle a friend in a new place
where their leaving crowds every corner,
a lost dog seeking its owner.

^[1]The literal meaning in Tagalog is “to shake off”. It refers to the Filipino funeral practice springing from the belief that mourners who come from a wake bring with them the spirit of the dead when they leave. To “shake off” the spirit of the dead, one must visit another place before going home.
^[2]The literal meaning in Tagalog is “a place to warm up”. It refers to a place, usually a small store or diner where people eat breakfast or afternoon snacks.
^[3]A traditional Filipino dessert made of sticky rice cake.
^[4]A baked rice cake made from rice flour, coconut milk, eggs, and sugar, often served as a snack or dessert.
^[5] Grandmother in Tagalog.

Alexandre U. Cabilte is a writer from Cebu, Philippines. When she has free time, she loves dabbling in poetry and photography. Her work has not been previously published.