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Monday, 15 September 2025

Yo Yu - Luisa Igloria

"Have fish."
  —Chinese saying

Today, the streets flooded and ceilings leaked,
mercurial.  On TV, firemen waded through apartments
 
with small children in their arms. The lights
went out and we swam to bed

after having made a feast of every
frozen shape in the refrigerator.

The wind looked for something
under all the eaves. The neighbor’s roof

flew into the trees. All night the rain
made loops of rope outside the window.

Lawnmowers and cars floated by.
Sometimes shoes, a nightstand, a red

hot-water bottle. Tomorrow
the sky could look like a field of helium.

There’s a jar of salt in the kitchen,
limes, a tin of sardines.

Why should I line up my cares in a row
like die-cast toy soldiers

along the windowsill?
Luck is bright as a soap-bubble.

Luck is a river. Luck
is the fickle and ancient carp

a child could ride, his bright
silk pantaloons improbably rippling.

Luisa Igloria (born 1961) The Philippines
Source: Sweet, Issue 1.1

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