From the 2nd floor window of an artist’s
rental AirBnB, here’s what I see: Keelung
serenely tying together an enframed
scenery, the foreground
roofs cooled by the sprinkler’s gentle
sprays pattering,
and the whirlybirds pirouetting
to the blow of the sea breeze.
I hear sing-songs from a pair of black drongos, two doves of some type and
a small yellow bird, swift
in its leap-fly from one electric
wire to another—
silhouettes against the light
of the setting sun assume the head
and stem of a note, dancing
on the lines of a staff.
A symphony swells,
there is harmony
even in rest.
Emmanuel Lacadin is a Filipino who writes poetry, essays, and flash fiction. Some of his literary works are forthcoming or have appeared in Aster Lit, the Journal of Southeast Asian Ecocriticism, Cordite Poetry Review, Ani, Heights, Anak Sastra, Katitikan, Philippine Daily Inquirer, and 聲韻詩刊 Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine. In 2020, he was awarded the Loyola Schools Awards for the Arts in Creative Writing (Poetry) and Joseph Mulry Award for Literary Excellence. At present he is an independent science writer and graduate student of Conservation and Restoration Ecology.