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 and other playing fields, children’s play areas, existing urban forests, protected areas and spaces allocated for public use must incorporate the protection and planting of trees in the overall design of projects. Green tourism is a conscience call.

 

Anggapo ka la manaya (Pangasinan)

 Akin naliknak lay petang na agew,
petang na ulok , tan petang na laman?
Nanenengneng ko la natan su mabanbanday ya pansesebeg
na san-asawan manpapanis na taiý aso ed beneg na kakawayanan
dima’d dalan

 Aanapen ko iramay masalti’n ugugaw
ya unkakalab, mankakalawit na bunga
na kamantiles tan bunga na mangga,
Aanapen ko iramay mamarikit ya mandudokdok
na duyaw ya rosas na narra
tan ambalangan rosas na caballero
Anggapo la ra.

 Anonotan ko, anggapo ka met la manaya
binetang da laý salim, tan tinartar daraý limam
tan imbantak da ka’d beneg na luganan
ya maples ya bimmati-batik, ed dalan na paka-abigan
nen saman ni.

 

You are no longer there (English)

Why do i feel the heat of the sun
the heat on my head, and the heat in my body?
Now i see the disgusting fight between
spouses sweeping dog shit behind the bamboo trees
from the road

I am trying to look for the children cavorting,
climbing and reaching for the fruits
of the camachile trees, and the mango trees
I am trying to look for those girls picking yellow flowers
of the narra trees, and red flowers of the fire trees
They are no longer there.

I realized, you are no longer there, too.
They hacked away your foot and chopped your hands,
and threw you at the back of an empty truck
and sped away, in the highway of progress,
sometime ago

Note: Written 18 September 2015, included in the unpublished collection of poems titled “Inaro”, at the height of the campaign to save trees along the Manila North Road (MacArthur Highway).

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