Contributor: M. Protacio-De Guzman

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In the standstill I looked for you.

The expressway was a tongue of light
That licked the dripping star-less night.

Your hands were clutching the wheel.

Cars purred and hissed like alley cats
While trucks grumbled in discontent.

My fingers traced circles on your thigh.

Raindrops fell and burst on hoods, roofs,
And human heads, tracing sporadic paths.

We crossed each other’s machineries.

Entangles behind the windshield fogged by
Our very breath, so reckless in this unleashing:

Our passion sliced the sordid night air.

Gasping for air finally, the journey home
Extended a most unwelcome invitation.

Traffic’s gone, traffic’s gone.

Memories of lips and skin flew past me
As the night peeled away layers of doubt--

For I found you in the thick of things.


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M. Protacio-De Guzman is from Manila, Philippines. His poems have appeared and have been anthologized in local and international publications, most recently in Off the Rocks Anthology Volume 19.