Excerpts from ‘Antares’
By Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles
Translated from the Filipino by Kristine Ong Muslim
Q
(Laurent Bouhnik, 2011)
Important reminder: All flesh—
desires
all flesh.
Q
(Laurent Bouhnik, 2011)
Mahalagang paalala: Lahat ng laman—
nais
lahat ng laman.
Shortbus
(John Cameron Mitchell, 2006)
It is true: self is a fabrication.
Self as seen through the lens after
having sex in a variety of positions.
This is the season for oneness with the self.
Absence is realized and intact throughout.
There are signs that signal homecoming.
Pornography is a choice.
To the public, man is simply man.
Shortbus
(John Cameron Mitchell, 2006)
Totoo, kasinungalingan ang sarili.
Ang sarili sa isang teleskopyo pagkatapos
makipagtalik sa iba’t ibang posisyon.
Ito ay panahon ng ugnayan sa sarili.
Ang kawalan ay ganap at buo.
Mayroong pahiwatig na pagbabalik.
Ang pornograpiya ay isang pasya.
Sa publiko ang isang tao ay isang tao lamang.
Starlet
(Sean Baker, 2012)
Sex is a vignette.
Post-coitus,
a shut door,
an open
letter.
Starlet
(Sean Baker, 2012)
Ang sex ay dagli.
Sa katapusan,
isang nakasarang pinto,
isang hubad
na tala.
Author
Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles’s seventeen books include: “Guwang” (High Chair, 2013), “Pilas ng Papel: Mga Sanaysay sa Tula” (De La Salle University Publishing House, 2013), and “Kurap sa Ilalim” (De La Salle University Publishing House, 2016). A two-time Philippine National Book Award finalist, Arguelles is co-editor of the journal hal., works as a book editor, and teaches literature and creative writing at the De La Salle University in Manila.
Translator
Kristine Ong Muslim is the author of nine books of fiction and poetry, including the short story collections “Age of Blight” (Unnamed Press, 2016), “Butterfly Dream” (Snuggly Books, 2016), and “The Drone Outside” (Eibonvale Press, 2017). She is poetry editor of LONTAR and co-editor of the anthology “People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction.” Her stories have appeared in The Cincinnati Review, Tin House, Weird Fiction Review, and elsewhere.