.the Working Man As First Time Overseas Filipino Worker Poem by Rommel Mark Dominguez Marchan

Cathay plane touching its landing gears
dispatching me in the port of nowhere
no one welcomes me yet
except dull, oppressing sun-heat

Time leaps 4 hours in advance
adrenalin amalgamating within
as I collect my luggage and for passport marking
in a long queue of mostly foreign

biological clock skipping my traditional meals
culture shock making me dumb and frozen
racism is anticipated and foreseen
(only my impression)

4/25.....Today is my V-day, a green pasture is awaiting
model car, dream house are '' reachable''
no longer a toy of fantasy and a sheet blue print

chocolates is all but an end-greeting reminder
and expected- long -distance call thru roaming text
from kin and newly-proclaimed friends proliferating

self-esteem is veiling at me
clothe with respect as unsung hero as my government says
with unseen crown beyond kingly glory

no more tracing back the track of despair
the childhood, the 3rd world, the lost career


Facebook tagging me now as one
of the countless dollar-earned Kababayans
tourist landmarks as most hits backdrafts
hiding nostalgic feelings behind


I now learn to collect branded items for LBC box
and send across miles
lifting homeland relatives ' unsatisfied smile

I am proud to be then my new country's pride
helping economy moves for awhile
western union, bdo, tax remittances all worthwhile
from un-drained thirst in making of night a day
toiling for my son's future
despite a bleeding hand

Now I am a working man
an Overseas Filipino Worker
among reputable manpower in demand
across the entire foreign land

Now I am a working man
not mourning the fate of
being a homesick father
and a lonely husband