Photo by Patricia Lemos of MacauArt

Papa Osmubal is a graduate student at the University of Macau, in Southern China, taking Master of Art in English Studies. His children make his home an eternal spring. His daughter's name, Man Lok, is Cantonese for 'Nobel' and his son's name, Man Hou, means "Good Culture." And his wife's name, Kam Sio, means "Golden Smile." He has been anthologized in Synaptic Graffiti: Slam the Body Politik (Literature and Art on CD, Australia, 2004), Mitochondria: an Anthology of Rarities and Loose Ends (USA, 2004), and Honoring Fathers: An International Poetry Collection (University of the Philippines Press, 2005). His poems have appeared in various places, hardcopy and online, and several are forthcoming in The Golden Lantern, Poor Mojo's Almanac(k), Word Riot, Smokebox, The Taj Mahal Review, and others.
Monday's Poem


© Papa Osmubal

Apologies

Love has to possess pulchritude
that only love can possess,
that no one can ever fathom.

Like one time I met this man
who said he loved his wife
for no apparent reason at all
save that she was a heliotrope
that one strange day just suddenly bloomed
in his bright presence.

I envied him,
I, whose heart does not even have the trace
of fireflies, of stars, of the moon;
I, who dwell in the gray shadow of my own silence;
I, whose heart is devoid of whispers.