Two poems by Allan Popa (translated from the Filipino by Bernard Capinpin) Artwork by Lorina Tayag Capitulo

 

 

Narrative

 

I wish to be a monk
is what I often tell anyone
whom I want to befriend.

The kind that doesn’t show himself to others
for solitude is prayer.

I would not be surprised if they mention
that a dream not far from my own
had once entered their minds.

If it had been in the aisle of a monastery where we
had first met, perhaps, we would have paused together

at a single bead of a mystery we recited on our way
back to each of our own cells at the corner
to bow for a moment as a recognition

that we have already met
although it is only our hands that can be seen.

 

*

 

 

 

 

Allan Popa is the author of ten books of poetry, including Hunos (Ateneo de Naga University Press, 2016), Damagan (UST Publishing House, 2018), and Narkotiko at Panganorin (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2018). He was awarded the Philippines Free Press Literary Award in 1998–1999 and the Manila Critics Circle National Book Award for his books Morpo (Collective Axis, 2001) and Samsara (Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center, 2002). He won the Academy of American Poets Graduate Prize and the Norma Lowry Prize while getting his MFA in Writing at Washington University in Saint Louis. He received his Ph.D. in Literature from De La Salle University. He teaches Writing and Philippine Literature at Ateneo de Manila University. His new book of poems, Autopsiya ng Aking Kamatayan, is forthcoming in 2019 from DLSU Publishing House.

Bernard Capinpin is a poet and translator. He is currently working on a translation of Ramon Guillermo’s Ang Makina ni Mang Turing. He resides in Quezon City.

 

Lorina Tayag Capitulo is a multimedia artist working in various medium and art genres. Since 1987, she has received multiple awards in competitions for sculpture and painting. In 2001, she was awarded a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program for her  project “Dream Weavers.” Her work has been exhibited in the ASEAN Sculpture Exhibition/Workshop at the Brunei Darussalam Museum in Seri Begawan; the Reino de Este Mundo International Gallery/Biblioteca Nacional Jose Marti in Havana, Cuba; the Agora Gallery in New York City; The Puffin Cultural Forum, Teaneck, New Jersey; Chatham College in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; the Galeria de las Islas in Intramuros, Manila; the Cultural Center of the Philippines; the Philippine Center in Manhattan;  the Heckscher Museum in Huntington; the Islip Art Museum; the Founder’s Brewery in Michigan; and most recently, the Pinto Art Museum in the Philippines.