The Ebb

 (English translation by Bason Di-ay of Genica Mijares poem entitled "Hunas)

(photo courtesy of Jon Luigi )   

• •  
    
    

    You can't hear

    the silent muttering

    of the sea everytime

    it curls up to

    the edge of the land.

    
    

     From afar, a fisherman's

    lamp is a flickering speck 

    sporadically concealed 

    by darkness.

    As the waves whisper,

    a dream sails

    with the monsoon wind

    
    

     It will take a long stride 

    through the shoals

    to reach a distant sea...

    
    

    Only, in the twilight

    a boat lugs

    a fitful bounty

    impassioned with

    the salty water's 

    biting and tender embrace
    
    
    (I dedicate this poem to my brother who is a fisherman)

    
    

    
    
    Hunas ( mugna ni Genica Mijarez) 

    
    
    Walay madungog nga hagawhaw sa dagat

    Inig hawok sa bawod sa tiilan sa baybayon.

    Sa layo, ang suga sa lampara sa mangingisda

    Murag mga gagmayng tuldok nga lamyon

    Sa kangitngit matag hunghong

    Sa habagat ug mga damgong nangapalid.

    Pipila ka lakang pa sad ang lakwon sa hunasan

    Kon baktason nimo paingon sa lawod

    Apan inig bangon sa adlaw sa sidlakan

    Moabot ang lab-as nga bahanding magkisikisi

    Diha sa mga barotong gihatod sa naghaguros

    Nga taob. Nagdagan, nagdasig paggakos

    Sa parat ug tam-is nga baybayon.

    
    

    
    

    -- NEILE GENICA MIJARES

    Cebu City, Philippines

    • • 
        

        
        

        "A feminist, Mijares writes to give light on the changing female roles in the society at large. She is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of San Carlos. She is a member of Bathalad sa Sugbu, a group of Cebuano writers who exults the native Cebuano language in writing poetry. She is also a member of Gabriela, a feminist group based in the Philippines.
        
        Mijares has attended various creative writing workshops in the Philippines: the Cornelio Faigao Creative Writing Workshop, University of the Philippines (VC) Creative Writing Workshop, Mugna Creative Writing Workshop, and the Balay Balak Asoy Creative Writing Workshop.
        
        Her essays and short stories have been published at SunStar Cebu. Mijares' fiction (short story) is part of the chaplet Hinugpong of the UP-VC Creative Writing Program.
        
        She writes both in English and in Cebuano, her native tongue.
        
        Neile Genica Mijares's Published Books:
        
        Hinugpong (an Anthology) . UP Press,2008."--Biography from Poemhunter

    
    

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