Trafficking Humanity

Makati, Quezon City, Manila
Drawn by historical forces is a triangle
Orchestrated by an abstracted nation-state

Where Jeepneys, taxis, motor cars, and motorbikes
Snake around roads directed by traffic lights that
Hardly have a last say, their collaborating
Star of a double-act stage street performance
Are uniformed traffic marshall boys in black
Spot-lighted by green, red, and amber.

The vehicles of human intention manoeuvre
Tactically between inches of space in a theatre
Highlighted by a hand-eye gesture dance

Automated by desire where audience applause
is muted by Zen meditative reflection in the midst of chaos,
strategically conceived thought chess piece movement,
Darwin's survival of the fittest, master craft
Of the art of the possible, or breakthrough
Of fate mingled with the constancy of faith ---

Rosary beads dangling with finger-crossing
On the driver’s front-seat mirror view.
Street noises voided by e-messages transcend

Physical obstacles, ghosting the skill
Of reading faces in the flesh, and read this with dread:

To get anywhere in life, sheer survival means
Negotiating between time and space, boundary breaking
And nerve testing a world where being is becoming,
Defined by a subtle move to break down
The blocked road arteries of eternal spring.

----- Makati, Philippines, February 2014