The Insignificant Other

We are two scarecrows

propped up miles apart

in the midst

of this vast arid field

where the farmers

were massacred

and the few who remain

have ceased planting rice

or any other crop

decades ago.

We are stuffed crucifixes.

Each a mute sentinel

and lords over

a sprawling domain of dirt,

separated

by a nebulous boundary

of dark fog.

Whoever impaled us

into this desolate landscape

knows only too well

that placing us

within arm’s length

of one another

runs the risk of us

clawing and clutching

at each other’s straw.

Karlo Sevilla, from Quezon City, Philippines, is the author of the full-length poetry collection, “Metro Manila Mammal” (Some Publishing, 2018), and the chapbook, “You” (Origami Poems Project, 2017). Twice nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology, more than a hundred of his poems appear in various publications worldwide, including Philippines Graphic, Rigorous, Collective Unrest, Eternal Remedy, Eclectica, and others.