• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About
  • Destinations
    • Philippines
    • Japan
    • Indonesia
    • Malaysia
    • Singapore
  • Guides
    • Hikes
    • Beaches | Lakes | Rivers | Falls
    • Hotels & Resorts
    • Cities
    • Restaurants
    • Parks & Walking Tours
    • Travel Essentials
  • Stories
    • Reflections on the Road
    • Life As a Writer
    • Parenthood
    • Womanhood
    • Quarantine Series
    • Events
  • Poetry
  • Letters to Lia
  • Contact
Our World in Words

Our World in Words

Remembrance

Eyelids flittering, I hand-searched for my phone against the dark. 3:45 am, the screen flashes. Sleep: three hours. I shut my eyes and wrap my arms back around Lia. Toss, turn. 4:00 am. Toss. 4:15. I give up entirely and rise.

I put my headphones on, wondering if I should write another letter to the Universe. Do the words ever reach their destination? If they do, does the Universe play favorites? If “a vote is a prayer about the kind of world we want to live in”, what kind of world were the others praying for? We manifested for light and love and penned our little notes in secret corners, out loud together. And yet, here we are, in a state of loss, despair, and fear, the embers in our hands suffering a slow, painful death.

Outside the window, the day’s turning over a new leaf. A flock of birds is readying for feeding, gliding beautifully across soft hues of blue, pink, and salmon. It’s a good day to be alive. But for some reason the sun hurts and the sky bleeds dismally. These past grueling days have desolated every filament of hope that I tucked inside that ballot. The past, present, and future are all encroaching on my safe space.

I remind myself of last night, however difficult it is to take in its lessons: Perhaps in an attempt to console both of us, I asked Lia her favorite thing about Leni and Kiko’s rallies. She is still mad – at the ruling class that made pawns out of us, not the ones who voted for them.

“Everything,” she replied.

“How about the house-to-house talks? What was your favorite thing about it?”

“Meeting the other kids who were doing house to house, too.” Mark, a cheerful 11-year old, is her favorite.

“But you know what my top one is? It was when we stayed behind when the group went home, because you wanted to go back to those construction workers they skipped and talk to them. That was very kind,” she enthused.

We both smiled. I swept stray hair off her face. “Don’t forget those, Lia. Your anger is valid and real. But what you felt in the rallies, during house to house, they are very real too. And they are worth remembering.”

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.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recommended Reads

Returning to an old new

A lesson from beetles

Surrender to Self

Latest ‘grams

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. 
.
.
.
#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? 🤣

Footer

Legal Stuff

  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

Copyright

Any part of this website may not be reproduced on another website or platform without the author's written consent. All applicable copyright and intellectual laws apply. Copyright applies to all posts, images, and pages of this website, unless otherwise stated. To seek permission for reproduction, contact the author at [email protected].

Explore

  • Destinations
  • Food & travel guides
  • Stories
  • Letters to Lia

Sign up to be the first to receive updates from us!

2021 © Our World in Words. All Rights Reserved.
made by soulmuse