Moonlight

Moon scattering toad
swimming in a pond

Shimmering shadow cast on the ceiling
Window overhang catching this
this gauze reflection
this haughty dance
this aurora visiting

Moon scattered to pieces
flying together
evading self of selves still
Deceit
useless
for cob threads launder
the image of images
adapting these to design of threads
Spider sewing unknown
even to itself
light of lights
of toad shattered moon
from rumpled waves
Of a moonlit pond

--andoy, 4 June 1986


Moonlight

Black Roses I Remember

I remember
Roses are black though others are of a color
Definite in stripe and glow
Roses, wild roses of no color save the dark innards of
meaningless thought
Of alleys smoky in air-vented stream
-- glorifying mist but emptiness of color
-- rising to forever but clouding the words instructions directions
Digression in another media of stilled figures
Dark memories I gather
With roses gone
Weeds

Red roses
Red roses of borrowed time and memory
Of borrowed being
Dying to wind-blown rained-out gutted fiery dust
Red roses black roses

Chinese tea I serve in memoriam dilute slowly picture-frames passing one by one
Ominously tortuously slow
Petals floating on visage screen skin of brown-dark tanned tea
In fragile porcelain of untarnished white of white
Bone
Hard as I had always known
Hard words
Hard
Hard annealed iron floating butterfly

Taunting teasing daring forgetfulness
Though remembrance remains as roses stand on vases green poised on every visible
corner of the round-eye world

Of roses black roses
Now only these
I remember

--andoy 1/June/1986





Black Roses I Remember

Men's Dorm

One of the oldest dorms on campus is the Men's Dorm (also called the Coed Dorm.) The dorm proper is composed of 5 residential buildings (called "units"), the kitchen and the Recreation Room. Fronting an area called the field or the quadrangle, it is set against the slope of the foothill of Mt. Makiling.

The main unit (also called Unit 1) is a 1950's style structure much like the old Baguio Dorm buildings. The library is located here as well as the admin offices. At the back of Unit 1 is the Men's kitchen. During the 1970's four new units were also created around Unit 1.

From an all-male dorm, Men's Dorm became co-ed during the 1970's. By the time I enrolled at UPLB, there were more women than men staying at the Men's Dorm. Three units were occupied by the ladies while Units 1 and 4 were reserved for the men.

And to think that on the next block is the Women's dorm with their own 4 of approximately the same size Units.

--andoy

Pili

Pili Drive is a straight 2-lane country road. Except for its location
it could be like any other 2-lane cement country road. It is the main
road from the main campus to IRRI and various other research
institutes. On both sides are rice fields dotted with other research
plots including those for mycenea patches for fertilizer. The
roadside is planted with pili trees. Usually, a research student
would be harvesting pili fruit every morning. Or, if not, students
pick the pili fruits from the ground.

The pili is an under-rated tropical fruit. More famous for the nuts,
the meat is very nutritious and is a natural de-wormer and
anti-diarrheal. The fruit is not eaten raw from the tree. Instead,
it is boiled, sliced, and dipped in salt (to taste) before putting to
mouth. The nuts are a different matter altogether. A lot of the dorm
room door hinges are loose because the students try to crack the nut
by banging it with door. Two things: either you get a pointed
projectile rocketing out the door, or if the nut was in the fulcrum,
the door hinges would give way. Those are tough nuts. With a
triangular cross-section and convex design, it is a very aerodynamic
projectile.

--andoy

Footpaths

The buildings of the campus represent the different eras of construction. There's the beige/off-white buildings with thick walls and supports, looking like a Diliman campus building. There's the various Leandro Locsin buildings strewn around campus. And of course, the American-era buildings which were created almost the same time as the Rice Research Institute.

Various statues dot the landscape. Maria Makiling atop a small gazebo-type with Roman columns. The Moore-like figures on one corner. The ruins of another old building at the back of the library. The Original Oblation which was transported here from Manila during the mid- 1980's. The carabaos near the fountains/carp ponds between the Development Communication building and the Admin. Approaching the campus from the main road, the carabaos are framed by the guard houses with the frescos. The palm trees lining the side roads further frames the picture and gives continuance to the theme. This is further enhanced by the palm trees along the road leading away and to the immediate campus.

The buildings within the immediate area look small and far between. The blocks are triangular further framing the landscape. Even the footpaths made by countless students, going straight from one building to another, look quaint and logical amid the non-rectilinear backdrop.

--andoy

How's the Carabao

The University campus is large. It is daunting to look at on the map. It should not even exist. But it does. It is so large, it practically includes it's own mountain, a forest preserve, and several international research institutions. And it's own ghosts. Of course