DENNIS ANDREW S. AGUINALDO – Los Baños, Laguna, PH

Our fingers trace in water what is mirrored
from the writing on the wall.
Suspended in ice,

a man fallen or
falling in place for five thousand years,
his artery torn, in his shoulder—

an arrowhead.
Two thousand of these in a name
held holy, the halting cold, this

long cause to stay
rigid / Stop the rain
of all the points we make.

Dennis Andrew S. Aguinaldo works merrily at the Department of Humanities of the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Here, he helped institute courses on young adult narratives and creative nonfiction. His work appears online such as in the closing issues of Otoliths and Gnarled Oak.

Read more from Dennis Andrew S. Aguinaldo here.