Eric Valles (b. 1968)
SELECTED POEMS
A City Like a Lotus Flower
A monitor lizard clambers across the asphalt road
so slowly it looks painted on the canvas of the city.
It is in no rush for urbanization.Koels call out to the sun as they dart
from branch to branch at the skyscraper-dotted marina.
They go about the day’s task in a light drizzle.The emerald temple-like roof reflects the noon sun
as queen palm fronds wave beside the road.
A day earlier, the road was submerged in a flash flood.Red jungle fowl emerge from the shade of trees
or hop off branches to a solemn procession
as they scour among dry leaves to feed their young.Aunties with furrowed brows wipe tables,
the smartly dressed size each other up
and keep busy where lights burn brighter than stars.Evolution has caused local inhabitants to scramble
for scrub or tree branch to claim as their own
between tall, sun-kissed canyons of concrete.Nestled among palm groves and flyovers,
spires of glass and steel put people in a trance.
A giant ferris wheel spins like a windmill palm frond.Towers hold up an oasis with a lake and tropical trees,
a garden built with green tech and framed in gold.
At night their laser beams send signals to distant galaxies.In pools you can see lined faces of planners
ordering construction in gaping work sites
from drawings that would have awed the pyramid builders.Still, we drive around monitor lizards,
pace morning routines in sync with koel cries.
From mud the city kisses the sun and spreads its seeds.
by Eric Valles
from The Nature of Poetry (2019, eds. Edwin Thumboo and Eric Tinsay Valles)
