A Letter to a Young Soul

An edited excerpt for privacy.

Keanu needs a hug.

"I wouldn't have known about this site had it not been for my former boyfriend who, at that time, was trying to win me back. I remember sitting on the concrete bench across the university grandstand when he told me he had started an account in an online social hub for the LGBT and other letters after that. I gave it a try.

But we both decided to delete our accounts after getting back together. (And to get rid of that guy who fed me with false stories and continued to flirt with my former boyfriend.) I guess we just didn't want anything or anybody to crack our second chance.

And now I'm back here after a year; single.

Yeah, the second chance didn't work out for the two of us. He quit. But who knows? Maybe my coming back here wouldn't be that bad. After all, I'd like this to be the place, besides Tumblr, where I can talk about those letters not many people care for.

It's still worth a shot right?"

------------

Sometimes, we forget that encounters blossom also outside that grandstand.

The world can house little revolutions elsewhere. We just have to look for those elusive sparks when persons collide with humanity.

You've heard about wonderful supernovas that herald the birth of stars, no? Well, they're possible. And, they can also mean the death of an old red giant. This means the collapse of all order and sanity. In short, chaos! Blackholes. Quantum singularity.

Yes, kid, it's a risk.

And often, too, we are lost. So we each have a different adventure to tell.

Good luck then.

PS:  Don't forget your comfy shoes, of course, a map and a tireless imagination.

Friday Night Lights

He promised it was a safe afternoon caucus; 4-ish. So I agreed.

Getting there via the old road of the kings at Diliman Republic was a little tricky. But in the end, an experienced sense of direction helped. No, it wasn’t a compass or even a cartograph but the tricycle driver’s “nguso” pointing to the white sign that said rather timidly: “Greek”.

The happy trinity welcomed the new addition. Like “I passed the test, thus, I must diminish” of Lady Galadriel, I was baptized as the fourth wheel. Put a ring on it!

B’s and C’s impersonations poured in after the awkwardness and pithy introductions. Somehow, the red horses exorcised out all showbiz personalities into being. Bjork, Claire dela Fuente, Streisand, Judi Dench, the entire cast of “you-twit-face” (C’s term) and their analogues took their leap of faith to our table. Chopin, Heidegger and the rest of the lights just had to make space.

The personalities were simply elated to raze the caucus. The smell of the rain must have been too tempting for them to just stay inside their hosts.

After quaffing BBQed fat and offals and viewing a peek of B’s e-Tarots, the quartet walked to the ambient locale of yoghurt dessert with vanilla freebies, expensive tomes, spicy chicken and mountaineer haven.

Thankfully, the Republic still followed its own Bohemian rhythm of Pinoy and almost rustic niche. Makati and Pasig, which go berserk on Fridays, are just too remote, somehow.

           

Cheap food, wit and some tipsy songs really make for a fun dinner. Thanks B, C and D!

PS: Guys, if you, each, promise a Broadway repertoire maybe we’ll sequester the mike soon?



BJORK still scares me. And also her swan tutu. They both do violence to my fundamental option.

14.

I came to explore the wreck.
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage that was done
and the treasures that prevail.
I stroke the beam of my lamp
slowly along the flank
of something more permanent
than fish or weed
---Diving into the Wreck, Adrienne Rich

from neuarmy