By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   THE image of her friend in a wheelchair bothers her. It is an image Enya had not gotten used to, having known Amira as a vibrant, cheerful woman, gifted with intelligence and a capacity to help the less fortunate. That image is somehow fading, being…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   THIS poem was composed in 2015, for a friend who did everything for her husband who didn’t realize she existed. It is a poem for women who try so hard, without realizing they could be happier with a rubber shoes.   You will miss me…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   THE heat is real. It can only get worse. What use are the parks if the heat prevents us from going there? Given the projections on the impact of climate change, protection and development of green spaces become imperative. Parks (including memorial parks), athletic ovals…

By Virginia Jamin Pasalo   A GOOD friend from Puerto Rico, Luz Maria Lopez, is publishing “a little book with selected poems in English” and requested me to write a very short simple blurb, around five lines. She wants me to do this because she says, I’m familiar with her…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   THE days are shorter, I believe, with each day ending without finishing as much task as before. Perhaps it’s the heat, perhaps it’s the burgeoning traffic, the sea of humans on the street, or maybe it’s my body’s declining capacity to cope with the usual…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   I MEAN, your garden, your personal planned space for the cultivation of plants including other forms of nature. What happens, after you’re gone? At Teachers Village where our family stayed for more than ten years at an 800 square meters of vacant space, I had…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   IN the beginning, we walked together, some walking ahead, some taking time for conversations. Sundays were intended for bonding with family members, those who live in the Philippines, with the exception of Lydia, who was busy with her grandchildren, the renovation of her house, or…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   WRITTEN eight years ago, on April 27 2016, under circumstances of remembrance. Some memories recede in the backwater of our mind, whether we accept it or not, and when we remember them, it is not always with the accuracy with which we first remembered them…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   I finally reached my destination at Sky Villas thirty minutes after the appointed time. I know I will be late, given the traffic situation, but the driver told me, “Di na ho tayo mag-Waze, waste of time. May alam po akong short cut!” I learned…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   THIS poem was written in 22 May 2022. It was not Women’s Day. They say we need not remember women because they are present at every moment, every peaceful encounter, everywhere, especially in places of conflict. They are mostly remembered carrying, nurturing children, the sick,…