At Home

The hum of the dryer
Has regulated your breathing
As you sit there watching,
The clothes spinning
In a blinding speed.
In that small cramped world
Of a room, you think
You are limitless.
“There is so much to do.”
The kitchen TV is your window
From which floats
The waft of fun and fashion
And glamour
And success
That you smell.
You smell.
“There is so much to do,”
You tell yourself.
So the hum of the dryer
Regulates your breathing;
So you sit there
In that small cramped world
Of a room, watching
Everything around you spinning
In a blinding speed.
You think,
You still think,
You are limitless.

Police

The police is not
the mannequin model,
but the corset
altering anatomy—
re-arranging
bones, body,
brain, beating
the criminal
black and blue so
he could follow
follow
follow
some other example.

Gian Carla Agbisit teaches Philosophy at the University of Santo Tomas, Philippines.