RICE BIRDS
on the ground
in front of your house—
kicking,
sidestepping,
hopping
every now and then,
matched by their heads
moving
up and down—
looking for scraps
from Grazia
and her month-old puppies’ breakfast
of fried rice
and fish pinangat.
Meanwhile,
the overcast sky’s clearing up.
From time to time,
as they continue
in their search for bits
of food—
high-pitched,
but sweet, pleasing chirps
escape from their beaks.
In my silence,
they fill my half-deaf ears
with joy so difficult
for me to resist,
to explain.
ELMER OMAR PIZO is the author of Leaving Our Shadows Behind Us (Bamboo Ridge Press, 2019). He was a Poetry Fellow at the Vermont Studio Center in February 2006. Prior to this, he was also a Poetry Fellow at the 2000 Silliman National Writers Workshop in the Philippines. His poems have been published in Hawaii Review, Maganda Magazine, Tayo Literary Magazine, Crate Literary Magazine, Mutual Publishing, PAWA, Inc., Likhaan Online University of the Philippines-Diliman Creative Writing Center, Our Own Voice Online Literary Journal, and Philippine Free Press.
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