Foot and Fire

  It has been in my mind for quite some time now the fact that one day, I will be telling my readers about my travels through the necklaces and braceles I bought along the way. Here, I quickly run down some favorites. I divide the story into two, Philippines and outside the Philippines. This is the first of the two-part story.  In 2015, I had a chance to observe four ordinary days of the Panay Bukidnon of Calinog, Iloilo. It was an immersion of sort. Nothing is extraordinary at face value unless one looks closely with one's heart. The community struggles to survive amidst the challenges of modernization. But I am happy that the tribe still try hard to preserve the culture like the Panubok or embroidery and it is still hand-made as opposed to all things made by machines and the easy entries of ukay-ukay. I bought a set of sash, bracelet, choker and arm band which at that time I am thinking of wearing as accent to my office clothes. And I am happy I did. Found a remar...

My sister repeatedly tells me that she liked my first booklet, Framed Words, because it contains essays aside from poems for the reason that not everyone can appreciate poems but can surely follow an essay. So, here is my tip for everyone to enjoy a poem or two in the collection, Specks. A poem is a telling of a story in as little words as possible. Let's take  Mother eagle's Lullaby (Inspired by a visit at the Philippine Eagle Center, Davao City) in page 29 of Specks. I loved the idea that our Philippine Eagles are monogamous and take care of their hatchling together. This made me read more about them. What resulted is a creative storytelling of the reproductive habits of Philippine eagles, meaning, all information in the poem is based on my research on Philippine eagles' mating habit and how they take care of their birdlings. From the voice of a mother eagle and in the first few lines, what is being established is the pregnancy of the mother eagle: "You were i...

Our tale starts not in who saw each other first. We both simply soar high over this nesting territory. Against the backdrop of our clear skies, I dropped myself slantingly and you incessantly trailed me. You reached me with your majestic talons and I found myself flipping over to offer you mine. It was you who consistently cruised with me and I made many calling sounds in return. “Are we meant for each other?” I asked. Then you brought some twigs and I picked some leaves. “We are!” you declared. We both found our nesting territory. And we made love in the nest and everywhere we can perch. We do this not only to ensure the next generation but we do this too to bond. Our hatchling will leave us after two years if it survives but we will never leave each other. And every after two years, we love like it was our first time. And our tale ends in who left each other first because to love like an eagle is to love “Till death do us part.” Copyright Gerlie M. Uy Fe...

With no much ado, I am immortalizing the pasalubongs here by photographing them (Of course, they're wiped out long before this post): From Up to Down: Pineapple from Polomolok, banana from Tampakan, Asparagus and dried fish bought from KCC Mall in Koronadal City, durian candies from Davao City, Eagle Kite we bought outside the Philippine Eagle Center in Davao City, T-shirts bought at Aldevingco Mall, Bling-blings courtesy of a friend in Tampakan and Pomelo from one of the many stands in Davao City. ***

We started the day by heading to the famous Davao City Philippine Eagle Center where they artificially hatch and raise the endangered specie. We were early by 30 minutes so that we roamed around before the gate opened. Lucky we were because the caretaker was around so that we were able to have our photo ops with the heavy bird.  *** *** *** We were told that the birds are named after their sponsors, the latter pay for the medicine, food, maintenance of the center and the caretaker. Aside from the Philippine Eagle, we saw the endemic owl, and some other bird species.  From there, we proceeded to Eden Farm which is an eco-trail where we skipped the group tour on a tourist vehicle circling the whole place filled with trees. Instead, we played with the caged birds and the butterflies. *** *** *** We then proceeded to Jack Ridge supposedly for lunch but we were not able to have one there because they open for dinner. The ...