HE WHO CRAVES THE FLESH

She saw the moon reflecting the night sky,
It lit the dark road to an alley to the unknown,
He hold her hands and led her to a cold place,
Her mind hesitated but the heart wanted to risk.

He strip off all that covered her entire body,
Blood racing so high with breathlessness,
He devour her like a hungry and thirsty beast,
Leaving nothing but an exhausted scared emotional prey.

Satisfying gratification of the trembling muscle,
It made her question her sanity, was it all worth it?
To be whole naked and exposed her entire being,
In the strangeness of him, who lust for the flesh but not for the soul..

-maricar alquizola
12/02/2015 at 2:13PM | MTA ©

Restless in the Dark

A sudden burst of anger,
Those flaming eyes,
Close pressed lips,
Face flashing red.
Rapidly the mouth speaks,
Humiliation of dignity,
Shouting of profanity,
Voice cursing aimlessly!
Hands are reaching for punches,
For slapping the face,
For choking the neck,
It tears the flesh to bleed.

A body trembling cold,
Frighten deeply beyond  its bones,
Waiting for the unthinkable moment,
Wishing to cease before it begins.
A scene of disgust,
Pity and confusion,
Fighting is an option,
But the spirit is weak.
What to do now?
Let oneself go or stay?
Shame will be for others to know,
It should be hidden in the shadows.

My dear beloved, let it go..
The universe may be a vast of uncertainty,
There is no guarantee of forever joy,
Yes, you can start anew.
Be brave little soul,
No more pain inside or bruises outside,
Let the violence come to its end.

For the body may heal all the pain inflicted,
The heart may start to forgive,
The mind may try to forget,
And the spirit may be whole again.
Yes, your existence is more important,
Love it before others,
Live it harmlessly,
Now is the time to seek refuge,
Speak courageously,
Stand for the rights firmly,
Let the others come out from hiding,
Let it be known that you are in control,
Bring back the glow and vigor of life!

-maricar alquizola
11 /26/2015 at 5:12pm | MTA ©

This poem is an inspiration for all those who are fighting against domestic and other forms of violence against women and children.

A LETTER TO YOUR HEART

I planned to send you a long letter
Written in twelve long paragraphs
Saying all my deepest desires
Provoking all the thoughts inside.

A week after i made my first draft
I erased the part in which I asked,
If you miss me or think about me
If you regret losing me as a friend.

A week after i re-read the long letter
I erased the part in which I asked,
If your broken heart had been fixed
If you somehow forget about her.

After reviewing the long letter again
I omitted the part about my thoughts,
That I'm missing our long conversations
The thrill that we felt when we first met.

And so, i end up writing a brief letter
A very heartfelt letter for you to know
I remember you each time I breathe,
I do recall your voice inside my head.

I know you will be reading this letter
It took me awhile to write and rewrite
I never thought it would be hard enough
To write such letter straight to your heart.

-Maricar T. Alquizola
11/12/2015 at 11:21pm | MTA ©

Tiwala Pinas, Ako ang Pag-Asa!

Tiwala Pinas, Ako ang Pag-asa! is a political talk held yesterday November 30, during the celebration of the Bonifacio Day at the Singson Hall of Ateneo de Manila Grade School headed by the Ateneo Task Force 2016 led by Mauie Doque. It was a meaningful event with a line up of brilliant speakers from various sectors of young government servants, an economist and a coach from the World Bank, a politician from the poorest municipality in Mindanao whom created change against political dynasty, lots of laughter from the performances of two comedians, brainstorming with the #dearfuturepresident segment, singing and dancing from a talented violinist and many more mind stirring experience.

The talk started with a performance from Ateneo Glee Club and followed by a thought-provoking question, WHAT HURTS YOU THE MOST? Is it the traffic? Is it the poor facilities in MRT/LRT? Is it the corruption of some of our government officials? Is it the lack of education of the poor? The question strikes because what hurts you the most, may actually of the same feelings with others. These collective sentiments may be put as one so that we may be able to fathom a solution to each.

Now the talk runs a whole day period and I cannot discuss all of its content but I will write an overview for some of the speakers that I think their topic is essential especially in the upcoming election next year.

Bahala na si Batman! The famous Filipino expression when a person doesn’t know what to do next.  As the opening speaker, Mr. Bryan Giron, a History Professor of Ateneo de Manila University emphasize about how we, Filipinos usually put the burden of our decision making and supposed to be action to each of our problems and our responsibility as a citizen to fate or to other people. The irony is, Batman is just merely a character of movies and stories. It does not actually help us fix things aside from its unrealistic views of changing the world. So in the end, instead of relying to Batman to fix our raging problems, why wouldn't we start to fix it ourselves? Think and move.

For me, this sounds really harsh especially when you are a Batman fan but we, Filipinos are too trusting about others doing the job for us or relying the work to be done through luck. So the question is, why do we start doing it ourselves? Simple things matter like doing the things that we are supposed to do every day. For example, instead of relying for the metro aid to clean our streets, why don't we keep our trash and throw it in the right place. Start small and consistent. It will go a long way to create change.

Another essential topic is the passion to change the system for good governance and cutting the thread of a 40-year old political dynasty. This was presented by Mayor Flora Villarosa. A Cebuana who came home to her birthplace in Siayan Zamboanga del Norte to be able to help the poorest rank municipality in the entire Philippines. When an episode of a documentary-video of Biyaheng Totoo by Kara David about Siayan before the mayor became elected six years ago was shown to us, you will shed some tears due to the lost of hope that the people of Siayan felt from the government and even themselves. Poverty at its finest that you can contemplate and appreciate the value of even the tiniest thing that you have right now.

After five years, when Kara David made another visit to the place and after Mayor Villarosa was elected to the position. You cannot even believe yourself how much change happened to the entire place. It just warms your heart to see and realized that change can be done with good governance and the passion to serve the poor. A mayor who offers her entire salary to be given to her constituents just for them to achieve living on their goal of having access to food, health, education and a lot more. What an inspiration to those who want to lead a very depressing area.

Other major topic also is about the young servants of our government. How serving the government made a good impact to them by being able to strive with the ideology of helping and promoting good will to our country. As Ken Abante, from the Department of Finance said, as a young servant, I am able to realize the goals that I dreamed before I became a government employee. So this is a great opportunity for young servants like me to polish a sector of the government by reinventing it while serving the masses. By being aware of the change that I can do for the people and actually can somehow do something about it is a new form of activism, by being inside the organization than being outside in it.

I truly realized that we should stop generalizing the people of the government because not all of them actually are corrupt, stupid and incompetent. I know I am one guilty of the general term but somehow, hearing the sentiments of our young public servants who were activists, political leaders and other humanitarian volunteers in their previous life before serving the government. I think we should also give them the benefit of the doubt. I agree, working in the government is challenging in terms of morality and integrity. Let's still hope that these new young breed of brilliant public servants will live to its idealism until the end.

I think, those are some of the things I would like to share with regard to the event but actually, there were a lot of great speakers who speak and had proven their point with the issues pertaining to the problems being face by our country. One thing that I know for sure, let's all not lose hope and trust. Let's hold on to what little hope and trust we can give for our country. Let us also realize that we are about a 100-million population in the entire archipelago and only around 1.4 million government employees are in service. If we only rely in the change our government can do for us, then we are doomed. I hope let us also try to begin the change within our own.

Lastly, I would like to thank Ateneo de Manila University specifically to the Ateneo Task Force 2016 for coming up with the event for free from the admission up to giving the audience free lunch and snacks. Being able to have the initiative to do such thing is one way of paving the way of the youth to its rightful path. I hope there will be more open talk of this kind in the future.

-maricar alquizola

12/01/2015 / MTA ©

How Maturity Shape my Views of Friendship

All the years of hard work and a lot of activities. I remember when I was in college, I will wake up at 6am to work on my police report news assignment in a reputable news company in Cebu, go to school at 230pm and rush for my part-time job at a gaming cafe at 7pm. I usually go home at 3am or sometimes those medical students who were addicted of playing ragnarok and warcraft will beg me to extend my shift until 4am to 5am so that they can play more and they will either pay my cab's fare, buy me some yummy food in a 24-hour restaurant/coffee shop or sent me home via their own car. I miss those med students, I hope all of them really made it to becoming a doctor. 

Over the weekend, I have like an extra "raket" with some of my friends who knew an ad agency that provided a one-day modeling promo job for a certain newly released product. So I became a promo model, production assistant on certain events like mtv gigs and a lot more and I ushered/assisted local and foreign concerts. I made some huge money in all those extra jobs. When you are independent and away from your family's support especially financially, you will do anything that will make you survive one day at a time. Even if you have to sacrifice the sleeping part. 

Even with so much activities, I still have to attend a weekend scholar meeting, cook dinner for my boss in my scheduled day and do some filing of legal documents every Sunday. I was able to insert in my schedule, a band meeting and organizing of punk/hardcore gigs, tree planting and feeding program activities. I still have time to hangout with some peer groups over beer or coffee. Do some extra discussion with my radical friends talking about politics (on ousting Erap at that time), societal and environmental causes. 

I have so much going on all over me that when I go to a mall or hangout elsewhere, there's always someone who would smile at me, call my name and even ask my number. Then, I will be amused why they knew me at all. I will ask myself, was it in my charismatic organization, the local music scene, the magazine or student body organization at school or other universities or was it an old colleague in elementary or high school, a client in the gaming cafe, my co-intern or staff in the newspaper or advertising company, or just an acquaintance in an event I've worked with. I really had a thing of forgetting people's names, I usually only remember faces. It was crazy, I mean I had my fair share of popularity with all those activities and organizations I am part of. It was actually boosting my confidence. When you're young and having a lot of friends, being popular is such an added bonus to your personality. 

Now, that I am in my 30's and looking back a decade ago, I never knew I wanted to slow down my pace in life and not care about people anymore. I think as you become a grown up person, you will stop caring about being popular or gaining validation from other people. Instead, you will be the one to choose who among those people you knew will stay and make it to your coffee or dinner table at the end of the day. You become an intimate person and you kinda learn about the value of having your stand in the principle of privacy. That's the great lesson, I understand now. 

Maybe, if Facebook was a thing in the past, I would probably exceeded the number of friend request in my account but I think, it's doesn't matter anymore. What's more vital in life are those people who stick around for the past three decades of my life. Having more friends is one of the greatest joys in one's heart but not having all these people at the lowest part of your life or abandoning you when you badly needed them is the worst part of all.

I say to the young people now, enjoy the hype of making more friends and enjoying each and everyone of them but as you mature you will realize that you don't actually need more, only enough. Only those who never left you at any point in your life. Only those who never forget to greet you on your birthday even without Facebook notifications. Only those who stubbornly stick on your nose even if they knew you don't need them or you are just too stubborn to let them know that you really do. Only those whom you will say, "leave me alone" yet comes back to you holding some bottle of beer, two cups of coffee or a DVD in their hands because they knew that you never really wanted to be alone and you actually needed a company. Stay with those people and you will receive the priceless gift of friendship. 

-maricar alquizola 

11/26/2015 | MTA © 

Buwan at Bituin

      Photo from www.freewallpaperfullhd.com


Habang naglalakad sa dalampasigan,
Aninag ko ang liwanag ng nakangiting
buwan,
Naalala ko ang mga ngiting tila ba,
Di pa rin nawawagli sa aking isipan.

Nakapaligid sa gitna ng kadiliman,
Ang mga kumukuti-kutitap na bituin,
Tila ba mga mata na nagniningning,
Habang kausap ka tungkol sa mga
hilig na sining.

Ang buwan na para bang sinusundan,
Mga yapak ko sa mabatong daanan,
Sana ay nakatingan ka sa kalawakan,
Para iisa ang tingin natin sa kasalukuyan.

Ang mga bituin na nagpapapansin
Inaakit ako sa taglay nilang kinang
Sana'y nakikita mo din sila kung saan
ka man,
Dahil sa bawat bituin sa iyong paningin,
Ikaw ang aking hiling at panalangin.

-maricar t. alquizola
11/23/2015 at 7:19pm | MTA ©

THE WORTH (A poem for every woman in the world)

Photo by Clanch Dayve Belleza ©

Woman, if you look at yourself 

in the mirror,

Do not just look at your face

Imagining, Jennifer Lawrence.

Close your eyes and sink into

the innermost part of your heart,

For beauty never lies only,

In what the eyes long to behold,

It is in your inner smile that

synchronizes what you feel,

This will resonate you beyond 

that pretty little face.

Woman, if you ever touch your 

own body, 

Do not desire to look at the others 

For you have your own curves,

Your shape is uniquely ensemble 

Created perfectly to suit you. 

However, if you seek improvement 

Do it as a matter of your own choice,

Not because you saw some random 

girl in the magazine,

Looking sexy, like a girl in your calendar 

or a girl who foolishly uses her body 

for fame.

Woman, if you ever love someone 

Do not mistake his words to be 

your comfort, 

His appreciation as your beauty,

His kiss as your assurance that 

he loves you more than anything.

This might be just like a splash 

of waves in the ocean, 

A burst out feeling that neither 

you nor him can understand.

Instead, feel your heart and ask

your mind,

It may argue to each own reasons, 

Yet you have to take things slow.

For once a man have gotten you 

to warm his body,

It will be easier for him to 

confuse you, 

Do not be enslave with all those 

metaphors.

And if, the urge of the flesh prevail, 

If he will blame you for quenching 

his lust while you express your love,

For accomplishing the only thing

that he wishes to get from you, 

Do not be shattered with what you

will call later a "mistake"

Pick up the pieces within you,

Show him how wrong he has been.

Woman, your soul may wander

from time to time, 

You should not allow someone 

to take it away from you.

Choose your battles and stand 

for your worth,

Let it be known that it is okay to

stumble down, to commit mistakes,

It is okay to make the wrong decisions.

Yet, remember that you have the 

strength to pursue your dreams, 

You have the courage to fight for 

what is right.

Finally, be patient and loving with

your beloved self,

You will always be a constant work 

in progress,

But YOU.. you will go on and on..

You will become the BEST!  

 by maricar t. alquizola

11/07/2015 at 12:56am | MTA ©