Monica Poem by RIC BASTASA

when i talk about monica
you may think of someone else
more famous, someone so beautiful
and so wasted, but that is not
the kind of monica that i remember

she was that brown girl in the
barrio of olingan
once when pomelo trees surround
the house and anyone who visits there
would have a kaong of pomelos
for home

and then have a taste of monica's
contagious loud laughter
and those strangers who pass by
could but ask who that girl was

she was monica
one of the twelve children of Joe
a municipal clerk who earns barely
to support a big happy family
that he raised
or at least, he claims to be one
big happy family
as i could hear them sing songs
at night with Joe playing
the guitar and
monica singing

i came back to the place after
some years of being away staying
in imperial manila only to find out
that the place had changed
without monica

more house here and there
with strong and high fences
and there are no more pomelo trees
no loafers
no spontaneous gatherings of
young men and women
simply having fun with nothing
really big in mind

whatever happened to monica or
joe and his big happy family
with all the sudden change in the
barrio of olingan
i really do not know.....