We Move the God From One Place to Another

We move the God
from one place to another.

From his kingdom
where we walk on our knees
to ask for what is difficult
to ask and we know we will receive
in some other mysterious ways
like this prayer that resides
in our hearts to ward off our fears,
in perpetuity we move him
from his sacred place
to the park of our people
marked by executions, death,
campaign sorties
Erap inauguration
Eddie Villanueva prayer rallies
Mike Velarde born-again testimonies
with hundreds and hundreds of roast beefs
with thousands of roasted pigs
with the breaking of the bread
as in the breaking of the nation's promise.


There we spend the nights
going around wearing
our dark nakedness so
the immaculate vestment
of goodness be ours.

We have prayed a lot
and so much in this country
for so long.

We have always prayed so hard
in this homeland.

And for so long.

And this is where we are:
our people live on the streets
our people live on water with some rice
our people live underneath bridges
our people live on the promises
of presidents, thieves, actors
senators, priests.

We move the God
from one place to another
and we dream of virtues
from temples, palaces, slums
and spectacles such as this one
that we do for our days.


Quiapo, Manila