POEM
by Erlie Lopez
I catch the sky
pale pink and blue
on a late afternoon I walk
around the block.
Such fitting canopy
on a nearly empty street
where hopes hang
on frozen air.
The scrawny man
pushing a kariton of fruits,
the regular vendor in the corner
squealing a choice of penoy or balut,
the tricycle driver
halting for a possible passenger,
the wriggly gay in the salon wooing
to try their new hair treatment …
how they all must have looked up
once out of their doors
a face mask and shield
hiding struggle and fear.
While I walk on,
not a peso bill I remembered
slipping into my jeans pocket,
doubling to tripling my steps
as a thunderstorm jolts
and the sky grays.
What a spoiler I gasp
thinking above all
getting oxygenated, limbered,
and sheltered.
Back home, un-masked and cleaned,
I linger in the balcony
wishing for the red orange sunset
to still show up,
make a poem out of the day,
waft hope in the heart:
tomorrow is another day
when one and all
can try, take chance again,
pray and plead.
Live a miracle.
About the poet:
Erlie Lopez is a Filipina retired from the frenetic world of Public Relations and Advertising in Metro Manila. She was, in the last 18 years, head of a PR agency she co-founded. In her independent and sedate world now, she mostly reads, writes, stays socially connected, soaks in Nature, and develops new interests and skills adapting to the pandemic mode of life. She has also returned to a first love – poetry – which keeps her heart open to the grace and rhythm of the universe.
