Amadeo Mangune Mendoza

Pavane

(for a poor kid killed during Duterte's war on drugs) 

Slow the
walk of

the dead
to its

place of
birth. Slow

cradling
whispers.

Trees, shy
as hints.

Mourners:
never

felt a
morning

low-key
mild like

last kiss
on the

hand of
dying

turning
to a

baby
again.

I sit
on cracked

bench. Watch
till none

to feel
but cold

and firm
handshakes

that do
not fit.

Filipino poet and fictionist Amadeo Mangune Mendoza is a former literature instructor at the University of Santo Tomas where he earned an MA in Creative Writing. His poems have been published in Gargoyle Magazine, TLDTD journal, Oddball Magazine, Eunoia Review, Philippine Panorama, Philippines Free Press, Philippines Graphic, Sunday Inquirer Magazine and in Likhaan Journal of Poems and Short Stories, year 2001. His debut collection of English poems, February Rain, was released by Balangay Productions in September 2023.