By Jose Victor Peñaranda
Poetry

I want to know more
about hydraulic pumps.
I want to start
collecting spring water
in silent cisterns
to relieve empty wells
of this dry spell.
I want to abandon
desire for rain.
The depth of my concern
is sky-driven,
clear as conscience.
No amount of open space
deserves your absence.
To miss you in the heat
and humidity of Sarangani
is a sign of weakness
only the underground river
in Palawan can understand.