№ 738. Manila Extract 4 (West Philippine Sea)

Manila Times

You are tense.
A Gordian knot
kneaded by diplomacy.

You are pawn.
Cross hairs
of myths and murmurs.

You are Manila.
Unspooled lances
stirring tempest in the sea.

№ 478. Trial and Terror, A Reckoning

China: The Cake of Kings... and of Emperors

Monuments are values made visible, embodying ideals we choose to honour. Unless we choose to celebrate their values, statues of slave owners belong in museums, not public streets. We cannot have a just and decent present as long as we refuse to face our pasts.

№ 375. The Justice of Returning the Loot

Spoils of War

№ 306. Sunday Through Square Lenses

Lectores de las palabras perdido (Readers of the lost words).
Blindfolded, the Jesuit reads a catechism,
the Augustinian, a novena in Tagalog, while
the Recollect recites a Visayan prayer.
The Dominican holds a box with the tithes
collected for all the lost words.

The Philippines was colony of Spain for about three hundred thirty three years. Yes, 333 years! 333 years divided by 20 years, for every generation, equals 16.65 generations.