Merlie M. Alunan

“We kept a jarful of keys
on a forgotten shelf
in the house.
What doors they opened,
or what they kept forever locked,
before they came by accident
or chance into our little jar,
we never learned.”
― Merlie M. Alunan, Hearthstone, Sacred Tree

“These boys bent over their food,
intense as harmless cubs feeding,
rapt with every morsel melting
in their mouths—feral rhythm
moves their very breath,
their strong young teeth chomping,
grinding the gristle of meat.

So little it takes to pleasure them—
they eat what they can get,
savoring a fine fillet
with equal fervor as the bits
stuck to a bone or clinging to a plate.
Watching them feed, I seem to see them
under my very eyes growing, bones
lengthening, muscle stretching,
their very skulls
thickening around each one’s own
danger zones of memory.”
― Merlie M. Alunan, Hearthstone, Sacred Tree