Ochre Tones

By DJ Workz - November 27, 2017








OCHRE TONES 
Marjorie Evasco 

The benediction in the air —
A lizard, translucent and newly-broken 
From its shell, kisses the earth 
At sundown, repeating the ritual dance 
Of marsh and cloud dragons. 

My best friend Grace says baby lizards 
Are messengers, presaging heat or rain. 
She believes in omens: earth calling 
The littlest creatures to drink 
The first mists of evening. 

Who is to say it is instinct, merely, 
Or moisture-need, that makes us 
Crawl or bend our lizard lips 
Unto the ground? Dusk cools our fevers 
And there is joy in this surrender. 

Even now, the tips of bamboo leaves 
Hold watergems. In the early evening air 
I remember Grace, and somewhere, 
An old gecko clicks its rhythmic 
Yes               yes               yes. 


Meet the Writer

MARJORIE EVASCO finished her master’s degree in Creative Writing at the Silliman University and her Doctorate of Arts in Language and Literature (DALL) at the De La Salle University-Manila. She served as Director of DLSU's Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center.

Evasco has received Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, National Book Awards from the Manila Critics' Circle, Philippines Free Press, Arinday (Silliman University), and Gintong Aklat (Book Development Association of the Philippines) prizes. She has received various international fellowships: Hawthornden Castle, Rockefeller grant and residency, Vancouver International Writers' Festival, International Writers' Program fellowship, University of Malaya Cultural Centre and the Wordfeast 1st Singapore International Literary Festival.

Evasco's poetry books are: Dreamweavers: Selected Poems 1976-1986 (1987) and Ochre Tones: Poems in English and Cebuano (1999). Her other books include: A Legacy of Light: 100 Years of Sun Life in the Philippines, Six Women Poets: Inter/Views (with Edna Manlapaz), Kung Ibig Mo: Love Poetry by Women (with Benilda Santos) and A Life Shaped by Music: Andrea O. Veneracion and The Philippine Madrigal Singers. (http://panitikan.com.ph/authors/e/mevasco.htm)

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