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Take a Breath and Mean It

There are days when the reminder 

is a pleasant one.

Then there are those, like today,

when the reminder is unpleasant:

Life is fragile. 

However we receive it, 

there comes the urge to make a soft

reset

in our little brains

to look more closely, stop;

listen and take the moment

to pet the cat,

play with dogs, and stop obsessing

about money, about tomorrow.

Today…heed it intentionally.

Don’t wait for the reminder

to show up

in its unpleasant form: 

Life is fragile.

What would you do with it?

Start…with a breath. 

Take it freely, unapologetically. 

Like you’re allowed.

Like you deserve it.

Like you’re meant to be here.

Take a breath

for life is fragile…

and mean it. 

22 September 2026

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Behind the Facade

Living our days in the time
of manufactured urgency;
this forgery of progress
in a society that feigns cleverness
through cheap clones
of human labor.
A fleet of soldiers unwittingly defending
a system designed to kill them ultimately.

This whole facade of advancement
at the cost of worsening
our state of mind,
disabling our senses, robbing us
of the right to think for ourselves
with fake consent.
A system that chips away at our boundaries
one reasonable clause at a time.

Forgive me but I do not understand,
why resort to soulless transactions
when there is so much of life
to be lived?
When there are plenty of hearts
to draw from?

Is it not clear to you how
they force us to drink poison
while depriving us
of the water that affirms life?
Is it not visible to you how
you are sinking into a black hole,
willingly throwing your hands
up in defeat?

One day, you will look
behind the facade
and wish
it wasn’t too late.

14 September 2026

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In the Absence of Roses

IN THE ABSENCE OF ROSES,
we’ve exchanged passages
from Murakami,
recited dialogue we’ve memorized
from funny pictures
and dramas on the dais
through the curtains.

We shared ink stains and lead residues,
the better to see the players
who lived in our heads.
You gave me the colors
you hand-picked for my canvas
from the tint of your lips
and shades of your skin.

I traveled your peculiar world
through the pages
of your manuscript.
And in place of fancy stones,
I gave you a play on words
once a day
to tickle your funny bone.

Here, while we want for comforts
and wait for plenty.
We exchange the tenderest
of touches
as if to say…
tomorrow—the world awaits
more of us.

In the Absence of Roses
31 August 2026

—

I haven’t written a love poem in so long. I’m happy I got to pen something again before the year closes in a few months.

Trivia: Pencils never had lead in them. But the idea that pencil is made of lead stuck around. And it’s still interesting to use in creative works.

My painting of pink roses from last month for attention.

aerial view of mountains

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Tempting the Gods in Exile

I sat on what remains of the chaos
on the sand where the sun used to gleam.
Ashes and gunpowder dress my feet
as tears form a puddle on the black shore.
Here where the gods lay to rest.
Now they shower it with their wrath.

I threw a stone to the sea…
it returned with a thunder.
In the darkness, lightning.
I curse at what swam in the depths.
It did not surface to swallow me whole
as I hoped it would.

I tempt them once more for what else can they take?
I’ve been reduced to a ranger
picking flowers to mend my ails.
I long for berries and shade,
I will not get them.
There is only exile.

Tempting the Gods in Exile
21 July 2026

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Nakaw Na Dugo

Tila ninakaw ang init at galak sa aking diwa

ng mga makinaryang walang awang pumapatay

ng mga kaluluwa.

Mapanlinlang ang kanilang mga pangako

sa mga taong lulong na sa lason

na nagbibigay ng delusyon

na ang mga ito’y gumagawa ng makata,

mang-aawit, at pintor… 

Sa isang kumpas ng kanilang

makamandag na mga kamay

habang nilalamon nila ang tubig

na balang araw ay ‘di na muling dadaplis

sa ating mga bibig. 

Masahol pa sa mga asong walang kabusugan

ang mga halimaw

na patuloy na gumagawa sa kanila. 

Tila may mga kukong dumadagit

sa mga walang makapitan,

hinahablot ang kalayaang mag-isip,

lumikha, at magmasid. 

Ipaling natin ang tingin sa umaga.

Humawak ng pluma at gumamit ng pinta. 

Pasasaan ma’y mababali at pupurol din

ang mga pangil

at lalasunin nila ang mga sarili

sa pag-inom ng dugong nakaw

sa mga malikhain. 

Nakaw Na Dugo

28 June 2026 

artwork by Natalia Go

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Tinik at Talulot

Sinubukan kong harapin ang umaga
sa altar na nakalaan para sa’kin.
Puno ng mga alay mula sa kalangitan,
kaing-kaing na mga tinik
na bumabalot sa mhahahalimuyak na bulaklak.
Sinubukan kong hipuin ang isang talulot.
Baka kako’y may paraang mahawakan
nang hindi nasasaktan.
Dumanak ang dugo
at mga halakhak.
Isang biro sa tulad kong
madaling maniwala.

Minsan nang may dumating na kahon
sa aking pinto.
Nababalot ng ginto, makinis, at marangya.
Mga batong ilog,
biyaya ng mga santo.
Isang katuwaan,
walang bahid na malisya.

Dumulog ako sa mga arkanghel.
Bakit tila paborito ako
ng kanilang kapilyuhan?
“Hangal ka,” sabi nila,
“na naghahangad ng lubha
sa lupang walang awa.”

Kaya’t sinubukan kong ‘wag silang gambalain.
Maging ang mga bituin, sa akin
ay walang narinig.
Ang araw sumisikat
sa bawat kong paggising.
Sinag nyang tila may hatid na ligaya.
Ngunit sa liwanag ay malinaw
ang bawat bukas.
Panibagong mga tinik, bato,
at di maabot-abot
na mga talulot.

Sasabayan na lamang ang kanilang tawanan.
Baka sakaling ang pag-asa ay tumahan.

Tinik at Talulot
10 March 2026

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I Don’t Have Friends in High Places

I don’t have friends in high places.
Instead of coffers, I have piles of sheets
detailing the things I owe.
Where doors open up for the powerful,
they remain shut for me
and for the millions
whose helplessness becomes capital
for the powerful’s gains.

And though we stand and walk
on the same ground,
somehow we stoop at their boots
as though their feet float
above us.

How long do we keep our voices soft
for fear of it being taken away
completely?
We say yes to the everyday demands
of our well-being
to keep our shelter and ensure we eat.
They distract us with bills and rent
and the illusion of weekends;
the illusion of rest.

There is no such thing as rest
when even in your sleep
you’re thinking about how to survive
tomorrow.
And they own tomorrow,
our tomorrows,
as long as the world keeps spinning
the way it does today.

But they have friends in high places.
We have orders to follow.
The only thing left
is our anger.
It may not be much in their eyes,
but as long as it burns in ours,
it may yet eat away
at their gates,
the edifices that keep them safe.
As long
as we don’t look away.

4 March 2026

Natalia Go

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A Dance Through Stories

Our story started at a time of great peril. We danced through masked crowds and curtains of uncertainty. We made our way out into a plot of land and turned it into a garden where we made fire out of little twigs of hope. And lit our path to tomorrow. 

Though I wasn’t one so bold to assume we’d still be here today, somehow I knew from the first moment, I wanted to. 

I longed for you before any confirmation you existed. And when you first held my hand, I understood the plan; in the universe’s grandest scheme, in which you and I are written in the stars. 

Perhaps that is magical thinking. Maybe it’s a dream. Yet in my waking hours, I decide each time to choose you. For I will relive every moment over and over, even the darkest nights, so long as they lead me back here. 

Dance with me through the rest of our story. We’ve only heard the beginning of our song. Listen…they’re playing it in the heavens. For us. I don’t care how many steps we miss as long as our feet find their way back to our spot. 

Here, where there is no hesitation in your arms when they wrap around me. 

30 November 2025

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Beneath the Gaslight

I like drawings with imperfect lines,

paint that goes just a little over the edges. 

I find chips in decorative craft

adorable. 

Unbalanced stitches, shaky layers, and disorganized canvases. 

Human hands are wonderful;

some are masterful

and most are unsteady—

nonetheless in constant pursuit

of beauty.

Some strokes of genius happen

by mistake

and discoveries abound

in misfortune. 

Feats such that unfeeling

virtual hands

can never hope to achieve. 

There’s no inspiration in programmed manipulations. 

No creativity 

in unthinking sets of flashing cards

that only show what one wants to see.

No toil, no heart, no virtue;

they are dead,

moved only by this virus

rapidly infecting our perceptions. 

They lie.

They take the names of objects

of ridiculous combinations

to convince themselves that they are real,

and trick us into believing

we are weak

for not going with the times.

They force our hands into the mud

in which they roll

with their stolen treasures. 

We are gaslit into thinking

our works are no better

for the very reason they are:

our toil,

our hearts,

our virtue. 

Natalia Go

7 October 2025

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I Want to Look At a Piece of Technology Again and Be Filled With Awe

I want to touch a piece of machinery and feel hopeful for the future. 

I want to wake up to new discoveries and not be threatened by the ill intentions of the ones who made them. 

I want to be excited about the progress every new invention could make and not worry about it killing jobs, industries, and people. 

I want to participate in change without having to worry about my demise. 

Or the decline of my intellect and creativity. 

Every day, I wake up to this nightmare of a planet. Most of the world are suffering. The rest are concerned about overfilling their coffers. And I am tied with a chain somewhere in between to tend to my needs. 

How did we get here?

I weep for the dreams of my heroes who saw the world for what it could have become today. 

I grieve the work of the writers who imagined so much more for us and whose ideas we so blatantly ignored. Nay, opposed. Defied. Trashed. 

Where are we going?

I long for the days when we saw promise in a new device. 

We were joyful. We were hopeful. We were inspired. 

We weren’t told to shut up and not question anything new. We weren’t denied the rights to make decisions about what we accepted and rejected. 

We were included.

We evolved. 

8 August 2025

Natalia Go