a kiss on Tala's forehead

A kiss on Tala’s forehead
May these words
Fulfill your curriculum
For keeping life alive
Through poetry

if i may put it simply
you are like the chinese pencil
sketching life on canvass of a young girl
holding a sunflower close to her heart
allowing the petals to kiss
the soft skin on her forehead
leaving a blissful gaze
to what the closed eyes see

the words growing from your ancient mouth
float through like a singing chime
turn dullness into a dynamic movement
a spontaneous rage from lightness to madness
for it does not take you a second
to bring the house laughing upside down
giving life to words spoken
which maybe not like the younger tala
who quietly contained herself under
the rhetoric of a prolific husband

more often on a day’s work
you linger with the distinct print of a typewriter
puts your potent mind into print
no less of a legendary invocation
to a writer yearning for due
acknowledgement
an act of kindness
you shared with me ‘those-were-the-days’
when you paint davao pub houses
a happy hour of poetry
leaving empty glasses of a stranger
brimming with a new experience
out of your persistence to bring in
a brand of tutelage for the common tao
to appreciate the poet and poetry
by the old and young
by the famous and ordinary

a poet is no longer made
one lives vividly in small experiences
enjoying the warmth shot of a brandy
and sees every shy grin and fake utterances
remembers every detail of a simple
acquaintance
for life is not a bid party
but is like a simple key in every blade of grass

as years paint your hair gray
and mark graceful lines on your face
a few more teeth may loose their roots and dangle free
but the spirit of a poet, a painter,
a mother, a lola
a multi-disciplinary creature like you
continues to grow everyday
soaring the great heights
as you inspire other people
to create new road maps

allow us to keep this memory of you
not left hanging on the wall
for a cheap pegged price
but to remember you as an inspiration
the “muse” as erika jong puts it
that breathes with us as time goes by
thank you
for making us experience
a masterpiece
such as you
for there is no easy way
and it takes a lifetime
just like wine aged to perfection
that will forever linger in the taste buds
of the living