POETRY
Rodrigo Dela Peña, Jr.
September Notebook
morning laced with the rumble of garbage trucks
the haze a veil over hdb blocks
for company, drip of a leaky faucet
ikea clock ticking from moment to moment
*
a butterfly flaps its wings and dreams
of being human: and in this dream i am someone
who sits and writes: eats
and shits and sleeps: dreams of being:
a butterfly: the words
hardly matter in the dream: only
there is a riddle: a dream within
a dream: a butterfly
in a garden:
my hands: wings
*
hunger clears
its throat to start
a familiar
story: i stop
it by wedging
a slice of bread
in its mouth
*
and what of the day’s epistles of disasters in other countries: end
of season sales: suggested for you: people you may know: tips on how to be insanely
productive: i drift from link to clickbait link: swipe through stories that self-
destruct within 24 hours: days and nights unscrolling: as viral
videos: boomerangs of the self: mirrored on a camera: reverse
image: my eyes have become all mouth: feeding on what is given: a minute
has passed: a morning: a mourning: everything: nothing has happened: i can’t
tell what the shape of it actually is: it must be something: perhaps a web: a cloud