Kinky

(photo: Roel Catoto, MindaNews)

"She's dead," your companion announced when you asked about her whereabouts. You were taken aback as if the words were thunderbolts which hit you. The motorbike hummed as your thoughts whirled with the rust-colored dust. "She was raped then allegedly murdered," the companion continued.

A certain sadness engulfed you like a shroud. You still could remember how she shivered due to hunger and cold when she asked for some food and money. Apple, as she was fondly called became alcoholic since the people (mostly male) saw her as an insignificant dot in this universe. A Mamanwa, judged due to the color of her skin and her inability to "function" well in the society. But then, what would one call a society which is indifferent and full of prejudice to these persons?

There was a time when a group of truant kids (14-16) talked publicly on how they gang-raped Apple and one even burnt her pubic hair using a lighter! The kids laughed with mirth while some adults cajoled them to continue their tale! When you had your time, you told them about The Apartheid in the US but it was beyond them. They even told you how she loved the kinky acts of having a gang as sex mates...

One time also, you had a prayer group in a cottage on a beach. On the other side, a group of drunks "supplied" Apple with intoxicants to the point that she passed out. When the closing prayer was said, your companions and yourself left her on the other cottage (the drunks went ahead) deep into limbo with the spirits and her confusions. You saw a puddle of piss below the bench she was slumped...

APPLE IS A REPRESENTATION of the IP's (indigenous people) and our attitude towards her is a reflection of our collective psyche towards them. We seem to draw a line between our ignorance and their well-being. For how many celebrations when we give them left-over food? How many times when we feel irked with them around? When there are social activities and they're present, have we seen organizers embracing them as a part of our social group?

Of course, we could say that there are right avenues in treating them, but have we initiated in the realizations of these avenues? Are local governments concerned about their identities? You even wonder if they are registered in the National Statistics Office... If not, so they do not have names and identities which are basic human rights?

Ah questions... You are also guilty of a lot of things and you must do something. You even aired your interest in adopting a Mamanwa child to be reared as a functional member of the community. But your close friends warned you about the ridicules he will receive and their itinerant genes could lead to exercises in futility. You are still not convinced for the NURTURE principle is still strong in your core. But you listened to them and has this fear of taking the risk for they might be correct...

In your area, the mining industry is thriving and there are provisions that these IP's must have their share of the wealth the miners get from their habitat. Yes, you heard about them being employed; going to the nearest city splurging on food and even cosmetics. Some are allegedly coming to beauty centers for hair-straightening and others are buying whitening lotions and signature clothes. These are probably their actions to be ACCEPTED. They'd like to be considered as "normal" so that even if some beauty consultants charge them expensively, they agree for they are also incapable of simple Math since most of them are unschooled.

It took decades for African-Americans to show to the world that their skin is not equated to their rights and capabilities. Now, America has a black president and most of the heralded athletes, performers, actors and even writers are colored. Here, you could not imagine when will it be when the Mamanwas would have a niche in a society they fairly belong...

Maybe it would be in another generation, not yours.

But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors,
True colors, are beautiful,
Like a rainbow.

-Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly

Flirtations and Quickies

Reading the most wonderful book is like a relationship; reading a novel is like an affair; reading a short story is like a flirtation; reading essays is similar to a quickie; and reading a poem is like a stolen kiss in the dark.

Who said that? You wonder if it comes from a brilliant mind of a writer or something your dark half has created. You suddenly found the phrases in the drain of your mind as residues. A fleeting emotion came as you read a sad story of defeat...of noble things started which ended to be futile... Indeed, villains would sometimes come out victorious.

A NOVEL AS AN AFFAIR. You go to a place where displays of covers and blurbs are available. You take time in ogling the color combinations, the teasers, the photographs and even the minute details of the cover. Like attraction, it starts with the physical level. Then you'd decide whether to buy the book or not. Some considerations are going to be made: Would I become better if I read this? Is this worth my time, and dough?

Then because of the lust for words and the mysteries to be learned, you decide to have that connection. Despite the sales representatives' suggestions of other books, you will take the one that catches your attention. Sometimes, it's really because of the cover and that carnal desire to own. But the true test is when the process of reading happens. First two chapters, you could either be hooked or get bored with the syntax. The prose might as well titillate or inject your mind with zombie juices. The aroused goes on, but the bored would just continue the drone...

Then, the realization happens. This is the time when the reader would either devour the contents of the book or the bored would put it at the back of his mind... The affair would either end at the epilogue of at Chapter 5... Minor discussions would be started from the inspired and from the regretful, it would be the words "Good riddance!"

FLIRTING WITH THE SHORT STORY. How will you flirt? Wouldn't you dress up and try to make yourself presentable? Aren't you trying to apply how those crustaceans would do when they'd want to mate? Yes. You have this desire to be noticed and once noticed, you'd snatch the chance and try to apply the predator-prey theory.

Then, through scanning, you find your prey which will be signaled by this unknown taste in your tongue. You see the length of the article like seeing the length of the hair or anything that could be measured and of preference. Then you start the reading...

Halfway, like a waft of sour underarms, you would sometimes repel to the text especially if you prefer sweet prose or Victoria's Secret scented armpits... Or, you could get hooked which could lead towards asking for a number or an e-mail....

QUICKIES FROM ESSAYS. If you're a product of a conservative brood, you won't understand this. If you were exposed to naughty peers and an advocate of the RH Bill for the sole purpose of "utilizing your body to the fullest", you might get a quick release.

Essays could sometimes perk up your temperature to the point that blood is pumped to the sensitive organs. They, too could sting like a red hot chili pepper. But there are ruptures of bliss even if fleeting after a good read. There are orgasmic interludes and there are "how dare he write this!" moments as well.

But that's it. A quickie is a quickie...

STOLEN KISSES IN THE DARK FROM POETRY. When erotica was introduced, it created a stir in the literati. But these short verses are indeed happening in daily activities. When haiku was imprinted in your system, sometimes, you want to wipe the grime off your face and flee. But these snatches of beauty, although would lead to become a distant memory, are still good experiences in life as a continuum.

RELATIONSHIPS. Atticus Finch seems to be your neighbor. You could sometimes hear him reason out that it's not good To Kill A Mockingbird. Then, there's Jean Valjean, Cosette, Marius, Eponine and Javert. You even wandered in the streets of Paris to the barricades. And when Jean Claude Boubil converted their words to music, you could hear them sing One More Day and that sad soliloquy of Marius when he wept in front of Empty Chairs At Empty Tables...Ah, the pathos of Les Miserables.

Yes. These are the things to happen once you get hooked with a good read. You will go deeper to the minutest details of the author and even the characters. You could even empathize with them as if you're one of the characters yourself.

But you are minority. A great percentage prefer to have quickies and premature ejaculations literally rather than figuratively. They would not care about the metaphors and similes. In fact, there are some wolves in sheep's clothing who would give Messianic promises to their hapless victims.

Still, you will dwell on the places books could only provide. You throw away those ones which are not worth the time and open new chapters which could lead to beautiful and meaningful relationships.

(image: inkymole.blogspot.com)