.
.
.
When He Gets Bored
he goes out of the house,
catching hermit crabs
at the back of a makeshift toilet
by the shore. Putting them,
one by one, inside an empty
Milkmaid can. He can hear them
moving. Keep on crawling.
Perhaps looking for a way
out. But each time they take steps
upward, they fall back. Fighting
for freedom or seeking for justice
is not easy. It may even cost life.
At noon, he would start crushing
their shells using stones as anvil
and hammer, killing all of them.
The crushed meat is collected
in a coconut shell. Used as bait
in the hook. And as the sun turns itself
into lemon in the west, he would cast
his fishing line into the waters.
.
.
About the Author: Raul G. Moldez writes from Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. Author of two collections of poetry, A Day in a Poet’s Life and Other Poems and Mga Taho Gikan sa Akong Uniberso, his works have appeared in Philippines Free Press, Philippines Graphic, Philippine Panorama, Sunday Times Magazine, Crowns and Oranges, Kinaadman Journal, Bisaya, Sunstar Weekend, Homelife, Ani Literary Journal, Bituon, Dagmay, Tinubdan, Red River Review, The Literary Yard and Sentinel Literary Quarterly, among other publications.
.
Image Credit: Chase Dimock “Lemon Sunset” (2021)
As It Ought To Be 