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Our World in Words

Our World in Words

Dusting off

Two weeks – that’s how long it took recovery to this extent, when I can flip through images of the last rally Lia and I attended without tearing up. Most days, I’d opt out of social media and current news. It’s rejuvenating to not thrive on anger and be constantly bombarded with reality. I wonder if this is how some friends of mine, who make “ignorance is bliss” their credo, feel.

This is when you dust yourself off and accept. I have accepted. And I – we – will move forward. Nothing will ever be the same. The world will still revolve on its axis, the alignment tilted against minorities like us. But you will live, a chip off your heart smarting once in a while. You will remember that time you held your daughter so close, shedding hopeful, unabashed tears, surrounded by hundreds of thousands chanting Rosas. If you could do it again, would you have done differently? There are no regrets in this election. My ballot is as proud as it can be.

Finally, you will remember, these are the last days before a Marcos and an Arroyo-backed Duterte sit together in power. Savor it. Treasure these last days of calm. The road is long and precarious. Your grief, now tempered, wiser, and aged by time, is a necessary arm for revolution.

in Stories

About the Author

Gretchen Filart

Gretchen is a writer of poems and creative nonfiction. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Rappler, Philippines Free Press, The Daily Drunk Mag, Anti-Heroin Chic, Rejection Lit, The Alien Buddha, Maudlin House, Janus Literary, and elsewhere. She resides in the Philippines with her daughter and kooky cats and dogs.

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This is the sweetest! In November we did a birthda This is the sweetest! In November we did a birthday hike in Benguet. I didn't know my niece, @themaiaimperial, was taking candid videos and planning to make a video as a present for me (thought she was just taking photos of us and the landscape - and she does commissioned work btw). And she used one of my favorite songs: Mt. Joy's Evergreen! 💖

Should also prolly tell you: Don't wear sneakers, like I did, in Mt. Yangbew. Trail is muddy and slippery. Only wore a pair and that tita outfit because we were eating out after, and am too lazy to bring hiking shoes and dry-fit clothes.
Wrote this exactly on New Year - perhaps my heart Wrote this exactly on New Year - perhaps my heart trying to reawaken to light after a soul-shattering 2022.

I thought of people who arrived and left my life as the verses shaped themselves. I whispered a little thank you and some loving kindness, that 2023 finds them in peace despite the goodbyes we exchanged.
Being on the road fills one with so many good memo Being on the road fills one with so many good memories. A kind of pilgrimage to one’s old self and the small joys that growing up and heartbreak threaten to diminish.

I close my eyes and breathe, knowing my breath is a prayer sent out to the Universe. May I regain my footing out there, I whisper. May I be healed in your embrace as always. Rediscover happiness, and self-forgiveness for having a hand in breaking my own heart.

Read the rest on my website (new post, yes! 🙂). Link in bio.
Eight years ago, Lia and I took a bus to Sisiman, Eight years ago, Lia and I took a bus to Sisiman, a small coastal town in Mariveles. Last Sunday, we returned and took our photos in the same spots. How the town has changed - so has Lia. It seemed just like yesterday. Time flies indeed. Don't blink. 
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#ThenAndNow
#thenandnowchallenge 
#motheranddaughtergoals 
#travelwithkids
#Throwback
#Mariveles
#Sisiman
#travelphilippines
I am writing letters and essays on the website aga I am writing letters and essays on the website again (link in bio). The past months I felt like I abandoned them; that I no longer know how to write anything that is not a poem. God, the tears putting it all in words. So poignant (and sappy, like always😆). Feels like a return home. I hope to return home every week. 💖
This is how nauseatingly sappy I can get😆 Writt This is how nauseatingly sappy I can get😆 Written many moons ago. 

My friends: Who do you think you are? Jesus? 🤣

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