I see you as wick of this candle, dancing in the midst of its flame. Your moves erotic, yet most holy. Your face orgasmic, thus, beatific. You dance with abandon: the world, dark, save for your movement in flame. Candle now burns down close to its base, yet you keep dancing beyond its wax and fire, carefree as wind that I pray won’t blow in this place, despite this lonely room’s infernal temperature.
I watch you as diviner, flame keeper, and budding dance connoisseur.
Karlo Sevilla of Quezon City, Philippines authored the full-length poetry collection, Metro Manila Mammal (Soma Publishing, 2018), and two chapbooks. Recognized among the Best of Kitaab 2018 and shortlisted for the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition 2021, his poems appear in Philippines Graphic, Protean, DIAGRAM, Matter, Black Bough Poetry, Small Orange, Eclectica, and elsewhere.
