Nick Carbo Poems

Hit Title Date Added
1.
Little Brown Brother

I've always wanted to play the part
of that puckish pubescent Filipino boy

in those John Wayne Pacific-War movies.
...

2.
Speech Impediments

“I like dappled hats,” she said
as she lit the incendiary device.

He enjoyed her wet diphthongs
...

3.
The Filipino Politician

When he finds his wife in bed with another man--

The conservative politician feels an ache in his stomach,
remembers the longanisa and the tapa he had for breakfast.
...

4.
Typhoon Signal No. 1

This is where the typhoon starts—
inside the fourth paragraph,
ten city blocks away,
...

5.
Grammarotics

The angle of delight is best
achieved while rubbing

the pluperfect button
...

6.
Capis Windows

How do you enter that Manila
frame of mind, that woven
mat of noodle house restaurants,
...

7.
Running Amok

In the slums of Tondo, people dwell
in shacks of cardboard, bits of bamboo,
corrugated metal, and a few cement blocks.
...

8.
Ang Tunay Na Lalaki Meets Barbie At The Shark Bar

on Mulberry and Spring on a rainy night.
Her head sticks out of some woman’s tote bag
placed on top of the bar, she winks
at Ang Tunay na Lalaki. He looks at his gin and tonic,
...

9.
Ay, Que Dolo!

Dona Josefina has thrown my goat
out onto the calle El Fez--
Ay! The menu of pain is as big
as a queen-sized aha umbrella.
...

10.

He finds on cheap match covers.
PLEASE MAKE ME
TASTE LIKE A MAN
is the first one he reads after lighting up
...

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