Felix FOJAS is a member of PEN International and the Philippine Literary Arts Council. Mr. Fojas holds a B.A. in English and Comparative Literature, and an M.A. in Linguistics & Literature. His books include Port of Entry (1985) and Confabulations (1990), and a chapbook, The ABC of Lies: A Poetry Primer for Adults (2001). His poems have appeared in: Brown River, Blue Ocean: An Anthology of Twentieth Century Philippine Literature, Rutgers University Press, New Jersey; A Habit of Shores: Philippine Verse in English 1970s-90s, University of the Philippines; The American Dissident, PoetrySuperHighway.com, & The Lucid Stone, among many others.

HOLES

Even you cannot plug
The tyranny of holes.
At birth you crawled out
Of a bleeding hole.
The ounce of air you sucked
With your first breath

Was peppered with holes.
Now, while living your life,
You bump into holes of all
Imaginable shapes and sizes:
Square holes and round holes,

Dwarf holes and giant holes,
Half holes and full holes,
Holes in socks and pockets,
Delicious lubricated holes,
And black holes in space.
Even your very body is
Composed of breathing holes--
The pores in your skin,
Yes all your orifices
Are nothing but holes.
Even in your grey mind

You imagine an open manhole
Where you slip and fall
Each time you wax existential,
Which proves the axiom

That life itself is one
Big hole in the head.
Even in your sleep you
Slide down a nightmare.
Indeed, holes are the stuff
Dreams are made of.
Even all religions agree

That hell is a fiery
Bottomless hole.
Sometimes you can sense
That your soul is a balloon
Full of holes through which
Divine afflatus escapes and hisses.

Finally, just before you
Say goodbye to this
Hole-in-the-wall world,
You've no choice but dig
Your own wormy hole.

Copyright © Felix Fojas, 2001.  All Rights Reserved.
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