Dog Day

by Ewong Martines
for Kat

                           moonlight
                                                                         fell
              a little too early on the back of my hand
                    because
           once more I forgot       to light up  
 the esperma                                           but now mother
                                  is on the verge
of waking
                    and so I must love her again
                    much like she loved me when   
sleeping              our dog speaks
                                                                  in a language that has
                       no word for madness
                                                                or magic
                                                                                   always
                                                                                               I wonder
                                                 how mother
had taught me how to read
                                                                                     letters and words
                                    but not between the lines formed
   by the tip
         of cheap candle
                                   I rubbed last night
on the dark                                      plywood wall
                   of our nipa shack
                                                                                  facing the escayola
of a balding saint with a sheep that looks   
                                                                            like our dog
                              outside
    now howling                                                like a dog 
                                                  I am
    still trying                  to decipher  
                                                                         my own
     handwriting:
the wick                       is between          my teeth
                       the flame                   is on
                                   the gray hair
     of a witch

artwork: "Hot Summer Day" by Gerry Baptist