MISSING LETTERS
By: Iris P. Concepcion

A woman in braids with a mighty pen in hand expressed in horrific form: "Are you possessed?"

Not addressed to me.

She lends me books; I could not fault her Yoda ways.

I have gotten used to the day job of people castigating you for things they know you shall never compromise. If you undergo a whole five years of stopping the circuitous, inane, senseless, idiotic pandering to the glam cover-ups, I'd rather hole myself in a room with my sole notebook as company and think of that one Japanese lunch. Yes, they are still there prowling like freaks in the manger of Copanhagen taxed trip. What puppies brought them there is not pure talent I suppose: it is leechiness and the absence of guilt.

Here is the story of the braided girl then:

She is exasperated why a guardian of words would blotch it for a sandy castle. Of course, terrible choices come to people with lucid and clear visions for the society and it is a respectable deed if you truly wind it up a little bit into things that had say, limited the size of your closets than expand it. If you can't get through the biases, you just need to show them the opposite.

Gladly, I am like sealed in a fortress of good-minded people, some redeemers after having wronged in the past----yes, some of them wear fur but these are deducted from their hard-earned salaries. I embrace them as far as my arms could stretch out because we are not piously serving a common group of interest (snow patrol is already gone, here comes scorching Summer) but precisely to celebrate the beauty of diversity under a responsible roof of informed debate. Since they chose to go low, you just need to level them off from that ground too and allow them to see the folly of some hot air balloon rides. It isn't color that I normally gravitate into: it is the deed and you can wear indigo or periwinkle if you choose to without me screaming at your itchy throat.

One day you come across forgiveness and it strikes you as sincere; backing it up is nonetheless different. We all sinned somehow but constricted conformity to a gang mindset: those that are bred in some nocturnal pubs under the grace of God knows what, it does not sell my spirit. It is easy to get my acceptance if society as a whole benefited from the goodwill. I have come under fire for being stubborn, but the beautiful thing to come out is, I gained friends traditionally not regarded as friendly in my world.

I like it when janitors are being respected; I like it when people of high standing eat with bare hands among their folks; I like it when they give pep talks without being too guarded about their own follies (one of my Dads boasted of squiring a lot of women before he got married; he stayed at the house after the marital bond---understandable, he has a gorgeous face. He had confessed to sleeping in a fashion event one time). People who do not wear curtains when facing people are most likely the people that leave a mark in your space. I like those who do not boast they are prim and proper and do silly stuff at the back: I like people who are forthright.

Funny thing is, these are the people who can casually drop off sexy lines without being offensive because they state it as a matter of factly.

Sample: "Do you know Iris that sex cures headaches?" And I circle my eyes with imaginary cottonballs as if I am being lectured on a philosophical foray into the dynamics of economics. I mean, they talk it off to you like it is some priestly baptism or some primer on how to fix a stool or something.

And they are truly funny as hell. I do not know why a bagpipe would sound hilarious to me now, as I type this, but we guffaw in the same lilt of decibel laughter, at the same things, for the same reason. It is kind of evil, but they do pull my hair for that.

So here's the plea: if you want to trim down my words; do so by all means but never mess up with them just to suit your own environment. Do not do Europe in exchange for a botched job: that is totally uncool. Or terrifying Brazil. Talk to my kids. They've got razors. Guffaw.