LANDSCAPE II
Carlos
A. Angeles
Sun in the knifed
horizon bleeds the sky,
Spilling a peacock
stain upon the sand,
Across some murdered
rocks refuse to die.
It is your absence
touches my sad hands
Blinded like flags
in the wreck of air.
And catacombs of
cloud enshroud the cool
And calm
involvement of the darkened plains,
The stunted
mourners here: and her, a full
And universal tenderness
which drains
The sucked and
golden breath of sky,
comes bare,
Now, while the dark
basins the void of space,
Some sudden
crickets, ambushing me near,
Discover vowels of
your whispered face and subtly cry.
I touch your
absence here
Remembering the speeches
of your hair.
(1963)
Meet
the Writer
The poet Carlos A. Angeles, born on
May 25, 1921 in Tacloban City, Leyte, graduated from Rizal High 1938 and went
on to study at various universities, first in pre-medicine and next pre-law. He
had one semester at Ateneo de Manila, two at UP in 1941 (where he became a
member of the UP Writers' Club), and one quarter at Central Luzon Colleges. He
did not return to school after World War II, but he led an impressive career as
chief of the Philippine bureau of International News Service from 1950 to 1958,
guest of the US State Department on a Smith-Mundt leader grant, press assistant
under the Garcia administration, and public relations manager of PanAm Airlines
from 1958 to 1980. He also served in the board of directors of International
PEN, Philippine chapter.
In 1964, the same year that poetry was
first considered in the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, Angeles'
collection of poems, A Stun of Jewels (Manila: Alberto S. Florentino,
1963), received first prize in the prestigious contest. Comprised of 47 poems
and dedicated to Angeles' wife, A Stun of Jewels also won the Republic
Cultural Heritage Award for Literature.
Angeles
has been living in the USA since 1978. Married to Concepcion Reynoso, he has
seven children and 18 grandchildren, all residing in the States. (http://panitikan.com.ph/authors/a/cangeles.htm)
