something that came up on election day

Heard Before

You heard it before:
the whorls of our fingers
construct a convoluted maze
where our feet trace the fate
of our country’s face.

You heard it before:
promises are meant to be broken
like shells of the pearls of the orient
crushed under the bellies of crocodiles
promises of turning the crows white.

You heard it before:
mercy is in our fingertips
or the carpals of our hands
or the intermetatarsals of our feet
with the help of spikes digging our skin.

You heard it before:
science has a way
of explaining matters
no wise man of the wisest
can enlighten with the birth of stars.

You heard it before:
there is no such thing as the wisest
not even that man hung in beads
hung in rear-view mirrors of taxis
With radios turned on an afternoon soap.

You heard it before:
Precinct volunteers in T— City threatened with gunshots
Brownout hits D— City… PCOS machines not working
Teachers ran out of indelible ink… G— Mall bombed, three dead
Drama Actress, handa sa paglabas ng sinasabing sex scandal!

Abangan…

*
words taken from the top of my head after hearing news about his brothers being threatened with gun shots early this morning, when they spotted some men trying to mark voters waiting in line with indelible inks way before they can get hold of their ballots.