RIP: Edith Tiempo --

This weekend was a sad one for Philippine Literature -- we lost both Kerima Polotan Tuvera and Edith Tiempo.

Of the 2, I am more affected by Tiempo's passing.  I remember reading her poetry and being left breathless by her very modern/post-modern style.

(Polotan's The Sounds of Sunday was a wonderfully powerful story.)

I think I've posted this poem on my blog a few times before:

Bonsai (Edith L. Tiempo)

All that I love
I fold over once
And once again
And keep in a box
Or a slit in a hollow post
Or in my shoe.

All that I love?
Why, yes, but for the moment-
And for all time, both.
Something that folds and keeps easy,
Son's note or Dad's one gaudy tie,
A roto picture of a queen,
A blue Indian shawl, even
A money bill.

It's utter sublimation,
A feat, this heart's control
Moment to moment
To scale all love down
To a cupped hand's size

Till seashells are broken pieces
From God's own bright teeth,
And life and love are real
Things you can run and
Breathless hand over
To the merest child.

She has another poem that I love -- I remember some of the words but not the title.  I will try to look for it and post it here as well.