Teh Mongo Experiment.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

Teh Mongo Experiment....



yes, we put the mongo seed
inside a carboard box and
there is no opening, not even
a peeping hole,

on the other same sized carboard
box with another similar mongo seed
an orifice is made,

the two sprouted but the one
with the opening finally finds
its exit and we meet the word
heliotropic as discussed by
the late mrs. villasica,

that was years ago,
we were then in grade six
at that time, and
martial law was declared
and there were those who
disappeared
those who finally became
mad, literally
no metaphor intended

then i learned such words
hamletting,
summary execution
government persecution
zoning
martial law babies,

i turn to the mongo seed
experiment without an orifice
deprived of light
though given water
and soil to thrive,

the cardboard box and
the dream of the borrowed light
of the moon

because there is no sun
because there is utter deprivation
we go for dreams as substitute
some died in that hunger strike

at least, dubbed as the child of the
borrowed light of the moon,
one still keeps writing and the other
one still keeps reading

call them the surviving
lunatics

not in the literal sense now
but sort of, in a lighter sense
metaphoric.

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RIC BASTASA

RIC BASTASA

Philippines
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