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This is the blog of Ian Rosales Casocot. Filipino writer. Sometime academic. Former backpacker. Twink bait. Hamster lover.

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Monday, March 31, 2008

entry arrow8:33 AM | Sid Gomez Hildawa, 45



A sad, sad start to a week. My friend, the the Palanca-winning poet and visual artist, Sid Gomez Hildawa, passed away last night before midnight due to dengue complications. His wake will be at Don Bosco Makati after he is cremated. Here is a poem he wrote from his collection Building a House, which I think is appropriate to celebrate the kind of life he led...

How to be a Door

Hinge your life on something
as steadfast as a jamb
but know which way to swing.
(Those who swing both ways
belong between the dining hall
and the kitchen.) Hold your breath
when you are locked, inhale deeply
with every knock that isn't answered
with "come in." Be still
when there is no reply from the innkeeper
of all things. Your name is Portal
so with your body keep out sickness
and greed, and builders who do not know
how to hammer a house with quiet words.
Let sorrow pass, and youth, and the goldest giraffe
who bends low to nibble from a lady's hand,
that all may enter who have traveled worlds
to be astonished, weary now of boulevards
that look out to the sea but never wave,
finally stepping in, leaving shoes outside
and shaking hands with all they meet inside, all
who have come before them, all who must dwell.


[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich




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