By: Iris P. Concepcion
"Gaining power
In the aquaduct
Of flowing liquid
I sought the hand
Of a dry soil
And stood there, gaping."
Then I gazed at the flowers, the previous communique of humanity sapping my eye sockets with new dimensions of comprehension. I had met Formula One racing great Schumacher in one of my mind forays and thought he was better than a seasoned comedian from the Vaudeville.
If you have been in the Quiapo area, you might want to look for things that are likewise completely outside their inertia of existing.
They are called products.
1.) Sewing machine, petite as a stapler---It is shaped like a stapler and punched like one. When pressed on a cloth though, it leaves off a sewing machine embroidery, a pattern both Jungian as it is Requiestaseque. Science meets domesticity: the profound drama of innovation! This should land a cover page in TIME magazine.
2.) A phallic-something, cucumber-like object---I do not know why they sell this sexual gadget alongside candles and junk food but you know you've hit corpus recados town when you see this wrinkly symbol of the male alpha. It never fails to make me laugh. It is like a windmill for the male organ. What the hell is this product?
3.) Swing---They sell "duyans" here. Who needs marketing strategists for this direct affront to advertising logic?
Walking far off from the topsy-turvy area, you can buy a banana muffin that costs five pesos but tastes like a hundred bucks. When terribly thirsty already, gulp down a black sago and gulaman for just ten pesos.
Everything is so cheap but functional here.
The nearby church tolled its bell for the merchants and buyers, both sides grinning from coming out alive in that warped manner of street haggling and trading.