Circle
He
told me about his family,
he said his son looks like me.
He told me his wife never knew,
never suspected,
not a single clue.
he said his son looks like me.
He told me his wife never knew,
never suspected,
not a single clue.
We
met at midnight
on a Saturday night
He seemed to be lonely,
and a little bit guilty,
and listened, and said: “Alright.”
on a Saturday night
He seemed to be lonely,
and a little bit guilty,
and listened, and said: “Alright.”
We
had few beers and sisig,
then to someplace in Pasig.
He liked me, doubled my pay,
gave me his card
and went on his way.
then to someplace in Pasig.
He liked me, doubled my pay,
gave me his card
and went on his way.
We
met again a week later,
lunch, then went to the theater.
And then, later,
at a different place,
in the dark, unseen,
away from grace.
lunch, then went to the theater.
And then, later,
at a different place,
in the dark, unseen,
away from grace.
-- Raphael Perez
Sisig is a Filipino dish made from parts of pig head and liver, usually seasoned with calamansi and chili peppers. In 1732 Augustinian friar Diego Bergaño defined it as "to snack on something sour" and "salad, including green papaya, or green guava eaten with a dressing of salt, pepper, garlic and vinegar." in his "Vocabulary of the Kapampangan Language in Spanish" and "Dictionary of the Spanish Language in Kapampangan." The pig parts were added when locals acquired excess meat from the commissaries of Clark Air Base near Angeles, Pampanga, about 40 mi (64 km) from Manila, established by American troops in 1903. (Originally Fort Stotsenburg, named in honor of a cavalry captain who was involved in the 1st major engagement in the Philippine-American War and was killed in action near Quingua, Bulacan, in 1899, it was renamed in 1919 after major Harold M. Clark, an aviator who grew up in Manil who had been killed in a seaplane crash in the Panama Canal Zone a few months earlier. Pasig is a part of Manila which was the capital of Rizal from 1901 until 1975. The village was founded by the Spaniards in 1573 and may have been named after the 1st governor-general Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, who made Manila his capital in 1571. However, the Chinese inhabitants of the area had called the Pasig river "mapaksik" (Tagalog for "terrifying"); the natives, however, called the main tributary of the Marikina river Bitukang Manok (Tagalog for "chicken gut"). (The river is now nearly extinct and is known as Parian creek, though it still poses a flooding threat during typhoon season.)
ReplyDeleteThank you Duane. Sizzling sisig has become a popular side-order in bars. Some Filipinos eat it with rice, and some prefer it with just beer.
ReplyDeletegood luck with your great blog
ReplyDeletethanks for using my art
wish you all the best
raphael perez