Author. Poet. Actor. Playwright. Director.
Garden of Dreams is now available for preorder!!! It’s out for a discounted price of PHP460. ETA is end of August. Watch the trailer below!
Natalia Go’s second poetry collection, Garden of Dreams, talks about resurfacing from the thick, menacing silence of a well, past the cold, damp walls, and into a garden where light meets dreamers. It includes sonnets and poems turned into songs.
My next poetry collection, Garden of Dreams, will be out soon! Please send me a message if you’re interested in pre-ordering.
Cover illustration by Natalia Go.
The Glass Jar is the first virtual play I’ve written and directed, starring Ina Salonga and Mary De La Vega.
Synopsis:
No one’s watching the pharmacy. The pills are up for grabs on the top shelf. Only the glass case and a lock are separating them from Chloe and Max. What would they risk by stealing a few pills? Max only wants the pills to help her sleep, but it appears Chloe has other things in mind. Would the two women risk extending their stay in the psych ward for this operation? As Chloe and Max scramble for keys and face mishaps, they talk about life before and after their confinement.
Inspired by first-hand experiences in similar facilities, The Glass Jar takes us inside the minds of two mentally ill women who have very different perspectives on recovery. Will their little heist plan strengthen or break their friendship?
*Trigger warning: suicidal ideation, drugs, profanity, and mature content.
Get your tickets now at https://ikarustheater.com/shop!
Beyond the surface
where the butterflies play,
the bright ringing
of your laughter
cuts through the thick
menacing silence
of the well,
past the stale air,
down to my hiding place
where it resounds,
a happy little bird song
from miles away.
Down here
where I shy
away from the sun,
your smile pierces
the pitch-black space
within cold walls.
You are the brightest ray
of sunshine
to ever come this way,
here in the bottom
of this dry pit;
you are a splash
of fresh water
to my parched soul.
It is time for me to climb
out of the hole.
I fly
out of the chasm,
into fields of white
where lilies abound,
welcoming me
to where you stand in wait
to take me in your arms.
There,
where I will carry you
under the richest
apple blossom
and kiss you
until the moon shines.
Through the Thick Silence of the Well
January 16, 2021
It started with a trickle
of words on paper;
a couple of poems, a few
rhyming phrases we’ve exchanged…
until it rained.
Flowers and sweet dew
filled our garden
where I’d find you every morning
reading letters I’ve laid
onto blank pages,
my altar of love
to honor you
and your living soul
that keeps transforming this universe
into the wonder that it is.
To this day, we speak
this language,
accented only
by touch and gaze
in which we reach for each other
beyond skin and flesh.
Your eyes speak poetry
when they glisten
at the sight of mundane joys;
a piece of bread, a line
of song lyrics.
When you laugh,
the prisoners of hell can’t help
but play heavenly music,
an orchestra of tortured souls
getting a taste of what it is
to be pure.
Altar of Love
April 21, 2023
Someone Like You from the musical, Jekyll and Hyde
Cover by Natalia Go
I remember my first soft bite
into chocolate eclairs,
how my tongue glided
onto fondue
and digged into the oozing
lava cake,
sometimes topped with strawberries.
How it shook as I licked
the sweet taste off my lips;
how I sucked the last drops
from the frosted Boston cream.
Breathless,
I surfaced back to Earth
where everything’s repainted
suddenly
with edible flowers
growing in the corners
of my mind.
You said you were never much
of a baker;
never made cake.
Yet your pastry is puff
with just the perfect warmth,
always gracing my mouth
with bursts of flavor.
I’ve never seen chocolate
turn pink
until your cheeks glowed
from kisses I’ve blown…
and oh, how you breathed them
in…
How majestically
I swelled
in your embrace.
And when the air became visible
around me,
that’s when I knew
I’ve been breathing candy
since you came along.
The breeze is streaked purple
and sunsets always triple
their beauty
when I watch them with you.
And the dew trickles
down my fingers again
and again…
each time I touch
the most fragrant parts
of you.
Chocolate Dreams with Trickles of Cream
March 31, 2023
You enter the white city through double doors
On blue moss floating atop fine rock floors.
Gilded wings gliding along gilded winds
When pink skies settle dancing ‘round the bend.
Smoke gathers out of your mouth as you breathe
To ease fierce fears fretting that love may leave.
For fine rocks aren’t solid enough to hold
Your feet when fleets of waves clash upon the fold.
When touch is scarce while scares abound in heaps,
Battalions of sorrow as bards prayed heed.
While you try to hide from plain sight to weep,
There is no escape from eyes though they sleep.
So out in fog and waiting for the morn
To once again wash what’s feared to mourn.
Tears fall one and two and in the moment, all;
Hoping when the sun shines, you wake to my call.
Blue Moss Floating Atop Fine Rock Floors
March 14, 2023
Onuk Island, Balabac, Palawan, Philippines
I poked my head through the curtains at the edge of the universe and gazed at the nothingness comprised of the microcapsules in which every breath I’ve taken in the past is stored. Invisible to my wondering eyes, weightless, yet tangible. I heard their whispers in the void and found each inaudible save for the words I’ve uttered out of love. And I wondered how many seconds in my roughly 650,000 borrowed hours are left to create more audible whispers before I return to particles at the end of it.
And in the nothingness, I felt a pair of eyes looking back at me, telling me I didn’t get it all wrong. For somewhere in the now, I’ve peeked into the soul inside them and held it with warmth. That I didn’t waste it all on spite and pain and bitterness. And the wind blew with remnants of every kiss we’ve shared and how they showed me the world past its plainness.
I wish to take lighter breaths though I know they will inevitably heave with weight at times. But with you around, it is as though they rise and fall effortlessly through it all.
As I pondered I felt each breath upon exhale being trapped within the void. And I withdrew my head from the curtains, content knowing that it was enough to imagine what life might be beyond the horizon. For here is where we took those breaths…together. No matter the distance in between.
Through the Curtains at the Edge of the Universe
February 25, 2023
If we turn the Earth
a revolution backward,
we will find ourselves
gazing at the first daylight,
exchanging our first hellos,
unawares
of the several more
we would exchange each day
forward.
And here we are
on the 366th day
of good mornings,
taking us back
to when the skies opened up
their graces upon us.
The stars shone fiercely
at the close;
they’ve been watching over us
since.
A sparkle
for every kiss; “Good night.
I will see you when the sun
shines.”
And it reflects in your eyes;
a twinkle so sweet
in noontime kisses
and afternoon snuggles,
turning tears into crystals
we wear as charms
on our skins.
That if we so much as step
under shadows,
they can’t but fly
back into the depths
of the well
where they belong.
As this little ball,
the pale blue dot
we call home,
resumes its rotation,
I extend my hand once again.
Will you hold me
through this next ride
around the sun?
Together. Onwards.
Through This Next Ride Around the Sun
January 1, 2023
I want to take you
back to the beginning,
to when I first held your hand
and kissed you nervously
in that little room
that served as our gateway
to our garden
where we’d disappear time and again
each time our eyes meet.
And even now,
it still opens up for us,
growing new leaves and blossoms
in places we never thought
could still expand
the way our hearts do for each other.
I will see you in the hallway
of our next abode
where we’d set up tollways
to collect kisses as we pass
each other by.
There will be singing and dancing
the way we did under the moon
to that song’s soulful tune.
Hold on to me
because I will fly us
to where we shared
our first cup of coffee
on that hot day,
today as we celebrate
a new moon cycle together.
Come with me;
I will take you inside
the pages
of the first words I wrote for you,
and let me inscribe them
in your heart this time
in ink as old as the moment
I first dreamt of your eyes.
Read them again
next time you’re alone
in a hallway we haven’t both
walked together.
For I will be there
setting up tollways
when you turn the corner.
Hallways and Tollways
November 1, 2022
Here’s a new original composition by yours truly.
A Fighting Chance by Natalia Go.
Vocals: Natalia Go
Music Production: Chris Ramos
Arrangement: Chris Ramos
Video Editing: Natalia Go
Maybe somewhere
there’s a version of me
that has wings for arms.
Maybe I own a chariot
I can fly in the night
to take us to the clouds
while the world sleeps
and asks nothing of us.
In that world
I can whistle to command
the storms
back to the heavens
and fall as little drops
of dew
to cool us from hot weather.
There’d be no floods
for they will recede
before they rise
when they hear my voice
and cower
forever to the seas.
And all that color
your thoughts black
will dissolve at my touch
back into the void
where their screams die
and come back as pretty tunes
to make you smile.
But I have none such power
and my voice often sounds
a whisper too meek
to dare to speak.
I have only dreams
to wander
where I’m half as strong
as I aspire.
I stand a mere hopeful
in a world where I
can offer nothing grand.
But my hopes spring
from truth
that it’s you I keep
in the innermost depths
of my heart.
With I can go
the distance,
a million lifetimes over
and over
to see my journey with you
through.
A Chariot in the Night
August 16, 2022
I am starving for words
locked away behind a boulder,
in a cave of fears
where hide vicious bats
that prey on meister blood,
and steal inspiration
to turn them into stones
they hang on moldy walls.
Thieves and forgers of doubt
in unsuspecting dreamers.
I come to the hatchway
to face their king
yet they have none.
Only mercenaries of the dreaming
guarding nothing
but counterfeit jewels
that don’t glint in the light.
Unwelcome though I am,
it is my words
I’ve come to claim.
What moves the rock
but your smile in my mind’s eye,
which lights up the cavern
of hopes turned lifeless.
None mightier a spell
than your name I speak
to break the curse and return
a hero in your eyes.
No higher honor;
no sweeter sacrifice.
Starving for Words
August 12, 2022
