Polite billboards teach us to say, 
“Please, thank you and excuse me”
even as jeepneys bully their way 
down blazoned boulevards 
bearing names like Redeemer, 
Graceland and Divine Faith.

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No one saves the late sun,
picking up its feet after two 
blistering typhoons, as the 
Goodwill building fixes its 
broken windows.

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Ako the street sweeper
Ako the traffic enforcer 
Ako the good doctor 
a paint company’s slogan.

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The effigies of great men etch
concrete relief on the side 
of the pan-Philippine highway;

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strip malls of Jollibees promise 
rice with everything even as 

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traffic knots itself into love songs.