Summer Plunge

Summer Plunge

written by: Karlo Sevilla

@KarloSevilla

We couldn’t care less:

We’ve heard stories
of Manong Farmer
driving away trespassers
from his hallowed paddy field,
brandishing a bolo.
Still, Tristan and I dared to walk
and make balance beams
of the mounded boundaries
one late summer afternoon.

Then a dog barked and gave chase.
I slipped and fell, butt landing
on a bunch of seedlings.
True enough, a man shouted,
and turning around
we saw Manong Farmer
running from his nipa hut,
towards us with knife in hand.
Quickly I picked myself up and
we scampered away with the words
“This is not a playground!”
screamed furiously at us.

Back home at dinner,
eating rice with fish,
I wondered how much
potential income Manong lost
from the seedlings
I inadvertently destroyed, and if
someone would get hungry,
denied a plate of grains,
because of my fall.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

This poem is dedicated to the Filipino farmer.

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Karlo Sevilla

Karlo Sevilla is a freelance writer who lives in Quezon City, Philippines. His poems have appeared in Philippines Graphic, Spillwords, Radius, Yellow Chair Review, Beneath the Rainbow, an Origami Poems Project microchap, in the respective first anthologies of Peacock Journal, Riverfeet Press, and Eternal Remedy, and elsewhere. He also coaches wrestling, trains in Brazilian Luta Livre, and does volunteer work for the labor group Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (Solidarity of Filipino Workers).

Latest posts by Karlo Sevilla (see all)

• The Last Shape Poem - September 16, 2017
• Summer Plunge - January 11, 2017