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The poems below are two, among four pieces, that were first published in Caracoa 19 (July 1988), published by the Philippine Literary Arts Council.
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'Canine Reproduction' by davidlh

To a Repressed Bacchante

Dare we do
As those dogs on the street
Our eyes are glued to?
Let's just sit and drink our coffee.

But you gasp as one mounts
The other -- what flesh
Imaginings make you flush?
Your furtive glances --
Could they imply more
Than parlor intimacies?

Your eyes can't keep casing
The window and, how you chatter.
Ah! You're no bacchante
You'd have me believe.
Okay, pour me a cup instead.
"Oh, that is hot."

Oh, if only we had a season
Just for jointures.
Oh, if only our love
Would settle in the groin.

But why blush again
Why draw the curtains?
Are we stuck
In a rut?


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The Wine Glass, by Jan Vermeer van Delft

Party Blues
(for Nancy)


Not like in Prufrock you say
Where the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo
You stop seething patiently
On your chair you say
Here's where you're different
You let your glass drop
To the floor you pick the shards
Smiling at the silent chair you say
Sorry not to the women
(Who think you're different)
Coming and going talking
Of who? and who? you don't ask
Or the men (who don't think you're any
Different from the women) with
Their godawful cigars and politics
I like your game you say
Only to yourself and pace
The room round and round and
Round among your guests
Look sit down you make me dizzy
You say here's another glass cry
Have a throe or would you rather
I'll tell you another lie


 


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