Author: elizavictoria

three poems by nate pritts

EMERGENCY POSTCARD TO A.O.

It’s hard for me to hear over the din
of this living, the racket of oceans
& the gulls overhead. I started to forget
about me & thought maybe
it was for the best. Probably I had my greatest
ever shot already & all that comes next
is some new disappointments. Remind me
again that together is something we can’t
do alone.

—Nate

EMERGENCY POSTCARD TO L.R.

Dandelion stalks populate the yard, reaching
in rusty light, & who knows why
their fuzzy heads are vacant? I can see
the dew on the grass from where I’m sitting
just like I can hear you in your voice.
Who would question my desire
to run outside & feel the dangerous AM
dampness or to risk it all to tell you about it?

—Nate

EMERGENCY POSTCARD TO J.F.

All these birds wake me up just like always
though the me that they sing to is new every day
& relieved to find out a body doesn’t have to do
everything. I’m trying to believe it. I’ve only
ever wanted a reason to slow down, an angle to navigate
that made me feel worth it. Yesterday, I drove
the wrong way from you; soon I’ll jump back
& try the sequence again – you & me lost
together & looking for landmarks that tell you what’s
right: dragonfly light, summer bees exhausted
in the window, that wherever we are is okay.

—Nate

Source.

gratitude

Thank you to Elyss for making my day, haha!

Fiction writer Elyss Punsalan runs the monthly podcast site Pakinggan Pilipinas.

And of course you can always read “Reunion” here. :)

hotel stay

It was a joint birthday celebration for Jaykie’s nephew, sisters, and aunt. Friday was spent buying gifts and eating and worrying about the rain, while Saturday was spent inside the Marriott.

It was still me and the camera’s honeymoon phase, so I just basically took a picture of everything.

Late lunch at Passion. Jaykie’s mom’s best friend (her best friend since grade school) knew one of my officemates. Small world.

Jaykie and I arrived late because he had class, so after everyone went out to have coffee, we just camwhored. (What else?)

Birthday boy George to me: “I like your new camera.”

Click!

Thumb wrestling and rock-paper-scissors:

Tigasin ng Marriott. Charot.

Ohaiii.

We turned in early after having a heavy dinner. (We planned to watch a movie and/or have a drink at the bar. Oh well.)

We got up early on Sunday to sample the breakfast buffet at Marriott Cafe. Yummy. I wanted to take photos of the food but I got shy. So I took a picture of the boyfriend instead.

* * *

On Saturday, before we headed to the hotel, I had a good jog around the UP Acad Oval, my second since the year started. To ensure that I would do this every week (I live in Makati now, so I can really do this only once every week), I left my running shoes at Jaykie’s condo. I’ll just use an old pair while in Makati.

My legs still hurt, by the way.

new camera

Olympus Tough 3000. I’ve read some less than stellar reviews online, but damn it, it’s cheap. Waterproof, shockproof, and freeze-proof at less than PhP 14k. Takes videos of HD quality.

Image quality (with and without flash):

Not necessarily the photostream you’d use for a magazine but at least the pictures look better than the pictures I take with my phone camera.

Now baby let’s do something beautiful, you and I. (And please don’t die too soon or get snatched or go missing. I mean it.)

ye olde yale house party

Also known as The (Slightly Delayed) Yale New Year Party!

Jaykie attended this last year (or was that ’09), but I wasn’t able to come, presumably due to work or family or the laundry. I can’t remember.

The common practice was to have a nametag, carrying a verb plus your name. For example: “Lick Jaykie”. They told me Yale Virgins couldn’t choose their own verb, but I would have chosen “Write-protect”. “Write-protect Eliza”.

Anyway in the end we ran out of nametags. :-p I wasn’t able to socialize too much
(the closest I got to socializing was when I said “excuse me” to people standing in the doorways or “sorry” to people I bumped into) so I ended up staying within my circle.

No matter. The house has wooden stairs and huge windows and books – it is a beautiful house. It reminded me of period pieces and horror movies, and Sunday nights in the province. Thanks to Rej and Oneal for opening its doors. (And to Paul for opening the gate while we stood outside in the rain haha. It’s like the rule of the Universe: the one day you forget your umbrella is the day it will rain. Hard.)

Some pictures:

‘children’ in the philippines graphic

My short story, “Children“, is in the latest issue of the Philippines Graphic. Thanks to Angelo Ancheta for the tip! (I’ve forgotten to check, and the last e-mail I received from Mr. Salud was him saying he’ll talk with the Lit editor if my story has been accepted.)

Thanks to Editor Joel Salud and Literary Editor Alma Carpio for accepting my story for publication.

Congrats also to the winners of the Philippines Graphic’s annual Nick Joaquin Literary Awards!