Tao Ako!

Took this photo yesterday while my son Xavier was being initiated to UP life - a unique and memorable experience akin to being given a blank piece of paper - what comes out depends on what you write. Such liberalism! The UP Oblation, strong and endearing symbol of naked humanity... echoes of Ecce homo, immortalized by Nietzsche in his magnificent opus. What is a man? The most elemental questions are never answered...

Sleepy Shores

Pains numbed by the stillness of the night,

Wounds lost in the engulfing darkness

Like tears in the rain

The deafening silence

hides dying utterances

As my being recedes

to a dreamy stupor

Is this half-death?

RERamos

The things we miss

Dusk finds night creatures emerging from their nooks and crevices. Crickets, bats, snakes, frogs, and a multitude of yet unnamed forms assert themselves in the unrelenting struggle for survival. Sadly though we are hearing fewer croaks and seeing less bioluminescence. Where have all the native frogs and fireflies gone? Are these citizens going the way of the dodo? When I was a kid we used to catch tiny native frogs, beetles, and red dragonflies that herald the onset of the rainy season. Bird nests were everywhere and colorful avians nestled on low, fruit-laden branches, unmindful of our presence, as we frolicked in the bushes in harmony with the rhythms and whims of nature...