Skip to main content

Where the s-t-r-e-t-c-h has no name

FLESH can take tension a tad short of shearing. Then, it can take some more. A limit is breached—limits are likely there for breaching.

Legal tender is less tensile—unlike flesh, there’s not much muscle fiber added in a regimen of repeated bundling and stretching to generate greater force. Relentless assault of market forces and quirks of the economy wear out currency’s buying power, always at the losing end in a contest of strength over the long haul.

Goods in bed and services, for example… hilo na sa tama ng toma kaya inakalang P100 ang piraso ng papel na pakimkim sa kaharap sa isang hapag-tunggaan sa katimugan.

Sumunod ang bata sa tinutuluyang hotel, disoras ng madaling araw… susuklian ang pakimkim na P1,000 pala ng konting pakamkam, camaraderie, in short.

Malaking tulong raw ‘yon sa paglalakad ng papeles… palipat-lipat lang tuwing ikalimang buwan ang pamamasukan sa Gaisano at SM… Kontratadong dispatsadora.

And in that stretch of time called “funemployment” between getting fired and re-hired, she’ll sit at booze tables and bare bundles of skin and orifices— maybe more-- in a beer joint.

She has to earn a living. Living costs don’t pause in a tireless tug-of-war with one’s meager means.

Uusad ang mga taon sa ganoong inog ng pamamasukan at pamumuhay. Tatanda siya.

At kapag ganitong tumatanda, medium-intensity stretching serves as best body toner… isometric exercises meant to haggle for two bit or more purchasing power… for added muscle control.

Unlike legal tenderness, human flesh has the capacity to stack up increasing levels of strength and explosive power as limits after limits are breached… until a plateau is reached.

Such a physical quest becomes a human destination, a validation of one’s humanity in the flesh.

Masaya ‘tong ganitong trabaho. Pag-iisip. Pagsusulat.

Hindi nga gaanong magbabanat ng katawan… kailangan lang na laging mabanat ang ulirat at isipan… kahit paunti-unti… parang isometric exercises, breaching limits a step at a time to reach new limits, then, breaching them anew to remap the boundaries of one’s horizons and unbounded capacity for imagination.

Yeah, the mind stretched by a new idea never returns to its original dimensions… why, even the universe expands relentlessly, so microcosm in man has to take the cue from the greater cosmos.

Oo na nga, nalampasan na ang mga naunang hangganan… tuloy lang sa pag-usad sa mga panibagong hangganan… malayo pa ang mararating.

Deja view: babalik-balikan kahit pa sa gula-gulanit na gunita at marahas na haplos ng alaala ang mga dinaanan. Pati ang lupaypay na katawan ng dilag na ‘yon… tiyak na igugupo ang katawang iyon sa pakikihamok sa panahon.

Kasi ang hindi lumingon sa pinanggalingan, hindi na tinitigasan…

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Every single cell of my body's happy

I got this one from Carmelite Sisters from whose school three of my kids were graduated from. They have this snatch of a song that packs a fusion metal and liebeslaud beat and whose lyrics go like this: "Every single cell of my body is happy. Every single cell of my body is well. I thank you, Lord. I feel so good. Every single cell of my body is well." Biology-sharp nerds would readily agree with me in this digression... Over their lifetimes, cells are assaulted by a host of biological insults and injuries. The cells go through such ordeals as infection, trauma, extremes of temperature, exposure to toxins in the environment, and damage from metabolic processes-- this last item is often self-inflicted and includes a merry motley medley of smoking a deck a day of Philip Morris menthols, drinking currant-flavored vodka or suds, overindulgence in red meat or the choicest fat-marbled cuts of poultry and such carcass. When the damage gets to a certain point, cells self-de
Post a Comment
Read more

ALAMAT NG TAHONG

SAKBIBI ng agam-agam sa kalagayan ng butihing kabiyak-- at kabiyakan, opo-- na nakaratay sa karamdaman, ang pumalaot na mangingisda ay napagawi sa paanan ng dambuhalang Waczim-- isang bathala na nagkakaloob sa sinuman anumang ibulwak ng bibig mula sa bukal ng dibdib. Pangangailangan sa salapi na pambili ng gamot ng kapilas-pusong maysakit ang nakasaklot sa puso ng matandang mangingisda. 'Di kaginsa-ginsa'y bumundol ang kanyang bangka sa paanan ng Waczim. Kagy at umigkas ang katagang kimkim noon sa kanyang dibdib: "Salapi!" Bumuhos ng salapi-- mga butil at gilit ng ginto-- mula papawirin. At halos umapaw sa ginto ang bangka ng nagulantang na mangingisda, walang pagsidlan ang galak, at walang humpay ang pasasalamat sa mga bathala. Nanumbalik ang kalusugan ng kabiyak ng mangingisda. At lumago ang kabuhayan, naging mariwasa ang magkapilas-puso na dating maralita. Nilasing ng kanyang mga dating kalapit-bahay ang mangingisda-- na hindi ikina
Post a Comment
Read more

Wealth garden

‘TWAS CRUEL as smashing a budding green thumb: some years back, an abuela warned me about letting any clump of katigbi (Job’s tears or Coix lachrymal jobi for you botanists) from growing in our homeyard. That grass with rapier-like leaves that smelled of freshly pounded pinipig supposedly invited bad luck and sorrows—why, that biblical character Job wailed and howled a lot, didn’t he? (But was later rewarded with oodles of goodies, wasn’t he?) Then, I came across some arcane text that practically goaded folks to grow katigbi in their gardens—why, there’s a starchy kernel wrapped shut in the seed’s shiny coat. A handful or more of kernels could be cooked as porridge. Too, one could whisper a wish upon seven seed pods, throw ‘em pods in running water—a river or stream—and the wish would be granted! I was warned, too, about planting kapok or talisay trees right in the homeyard—these trees form a cross-like branching pattern. Pasang-krus daw ang bahay na kalapit sa puno ng kapok, tal
Post a Comment
Read more