The Power of the Wind

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

1:56 a.m. rushing in through the open window/dancing with every movable object in the room/the wind waves, a magic wand.

On September 15, Ompong broke through Mapagkawanggawa Street, blasting a transformer ten meters away from where I stood feeling the wind. It was as though God sent a mighty street sweeper, in a hurry to finish its task, without segregating debris. The yero (galvanized sheet) flew and struck the pavement, like a stiff flying carpet, throwing off whatever it carried, among the leaves, twigs and branches that were torn away from trees.

2:52 a.m. she breathes the smell of distant shores/ bearing gifts from afar/ a leaf from Puerto Rico/ and the semen of a seahorse.

I can smell the sweet fragrance of kamuning flowers, that lemony freshness, the scent of clean, and a hint of the scent of the sea.

4:38 a.m. she howls/ speeding through the silence of dawn/ every little thing flies/ through the flickering streetlight, a “flying yero”.

Emy Perez reminded me that Ompong was a “he”. I cannot think of a typhoon as a “he”. Nature to me has always been a “she.” Jojo Riñoza’s “flying yero”, and all the other debris that do not possess the scent of flowers, or the fragrance of the sea,  is a “he”.

4:56 a.m. forced to bow down/ the trees shivered/ unable to hold their limbs together/ twigs fell/ leaves flew/ seeds stillborn.

5:11 a.m. at the last flicker of light/ the might of the wind takes away/ the pride of the lion/ reducing to none, the life of the cat.

The stray cat, who thought of himself as a lion, and who acted like one during fair weather, stayed in his corner, not wanting to risk his nine lives.

7:44 a.m.  as the coffee brews/ she leaves/ with the airplane soaring/ oblivious of the havoc of its trodden path.

Just as swiftly as it crushed anything on its path, it stopped. An eerie silence in what usually was a noisy, busy morning. From a distance, the sound of a soaring airplane.

10:30 a.m. nature has no wrath/ he does not punish/ that is the way she is/ we survive by understanding/ we perish by ignorance.

The advances of the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) in radio waves and weather modification is no mean feat, even if considered to be just a dent in the full understanding of Earth’s weather systems. Those who invested resources in research on the atmosphere stand to gain most in harnessing its potential, whether as a military weapon, a business commodity or a means to control the mind.

But this is nothing new. The control of the wind, earth and fire being used in combat were depicted in Japanese cartoons. In fact, I vividly remember at least ten anime characters who wield the Power of Wind.

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