Arlene J. Yandug was born in Bukidnon, a region in the southern part of the Philippines. She teaches literature at Xavier University; paints blooms, clouds and stardust. Like her paintings, many of her poems reflect local colour and landscapes. While generally cheery, she sometimes dabbles in surreal writing, especially after reading grim or gothic books, or when she is terribly, terribly upset.
His darkest thoughts
Grow wings and tails,
And roost
In he middle of our mind’s
Eye
Watching the dust
of our names
in the wake of our own thoughts,
crawling out
through the cracks of cubicles.
Lest they leave footprints on the floor,
they march tiptoeing
on the ceiling
huddling around, distended
like the bellies of question marks.
The keys jingle in his pockets
As he slithers across the room,
His filmy eyes behind
thick glasses
trace for shadows of doubts,
uncertainties,
The littlest disarray of thoughts.
As he sloughs his skin
Once more, renewing
His potent poison, testing the limit
Of his strength,
We are on the point
Of breaking
Into a million shards of silence.