Not on Holiday

I’ve been away from this place for over a month.  I have to blame the extended school holidays due to the FIFA World Cup here for my absence.  Tough to get anything done when the little ones you love think you’re nothing more than a rubberband whose only purpose was to be tested to snapping point.  Every single minute of the day.  Thanks to the now even more super rich guys at FIFA. (Yes, you, Sepp Blatter and company – should I say multinational corporations?)

Don’t get me wrong though.  I love soccer.  Or at least didn’t know I did until recently.  For many years the bad memories of high school bullies at the soccer field made me hate the game.  Watching great players (and not so great ones) on the field these past few weeks gave me a new perspective on the sport and if the government can keep the good work after the season’s been and gone, maybe we could see better things for this country.  Making the police department impress not just the welcome tourists but the local population as well would be a good start.

I still think Ghana deserved a goal considering Uruguay’s players decided to play volleyball instead.  At least now that things are winding down, perhaps after Sunday there’ll be fewer invisible giant swarms buzzing around.  One hopes.

About matangmanok

Jim Pascual Agustin writes and translates poetry. Sometimes he tries his hand at essays and stories. His latest book is BLOODRED DRAGONFLIES, published by Deep South in South Africa. Check out the official blog page for Bloodred Dragonflies. In 2011 the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House in Manila released BAHA-BAHAGDANG KARUPUKAN (poems in Filipino) and ALIEN TO ANY SKIN (poems in English). The same publisher released his most recent poetry collections SOUND BEFORE WATER and KALMOT NG PUSA SA TAGILIRAN. In 2015 a new poetry collection in English, A THOUSAND EYES was released. His first collection of short stories in Filipino, SANGA SA BASANG LUPA, was released in 2016. UK publisher The Onslaught Press launches his poetry collection, WINGS OF SMOKE, worldwide in February 2017. San Anselmo Publications released HOW TO MAKE A SALAGUBANG HELICOPTER & OTHER POEMS in 2019 followed by CROCODILES IN BELFAST & OTHER POEMS in 2020 - both books can be purchased through their Facebook page. View all posts by matangmanok

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