Nothing good ever happened on December 7th
First there were the bombs
on the morning of 1941
no amount of smoke signals
rising from the ashes would be enough to overturn
the fleets poised to create ruin
Agamemnon once said that truth is the first
casualty of war but what ever happened to spirits once they die?
i’m afraid my sins cancel out
what if there are bad people in heaven
the one good deed I did this week
like the evil men of Sodom & Gomorrah?
Daddy says don’t be gay but support men who do crimes
i’ve long since stopped listening
to what old men like Larrybird,
born on the same day as me
have 2 say i wish i shared a birthday w/ Ladybird instead
thinking she was in luv w/ someone
who turned out 2 be gay
so that’s one common denominator we have
can’t say much for Imelda Marcos,
who was stabbed by an assailant
with a bolo this day in ‘72
calling it her second lease of life, i wonder if I'll
be lucky to be given the chance
to fuck the world over twice
also, a great many earthquakes rumbled &
so begun uprisings & war & death—all that fun stuff
but in 2001, a girl was born legend says that her mother,
holding the baby grenade for the first time already knew
how much of an explosion she would make
on the morning of 1941
no amount of smoke signals
rising from the ashes would be enough to overturn
the fleets poised to create ruin
Agamemnon once said that truth is the first
casualty of war but what ever happened to spirits once they die?
i’m afraid my sins cancel out
what if there are bad people in heaven
the one good deed I did this week
like the evil men of Sodom & Gomorrah?
Daddy says don’t be gay but support men who do crimes
i’ve long since stopped listening
to what old men like Larrybird,
born on the same day as me
have 2 say i wish i shared a birthday w/ Ladybird instead
thinking she was in luv w/ someone
who turned out 2 be gay
so that’s one common denominator we have
can’t say much for Imelda Marcos,
who was stabbed by an assailant
with a bolo this day in ‘72
calling it her second lease of life, i wonder if I'll
be lucky to be given the chance
to fuck the world over twice
also, a great many earthquakes rumbled &
so begun uprisings & war & death—all that fun stuff
but in 2001, a girl was born legend says that her mother,
holding the baby grenade for the first time already knew
how much of an explosion she would make
About the Author
Gayle Dy is a Chinese-Filipino poet and aspiring filmmaker from the Philippines. She is a graduate of Creative Writing from Ateneo de Manila University and is the author of the chapbook, God Save The Girl. She loves nature walks, picnics, books, and Greta Gerwig amongst other things.