CLEMENCIO MONTECILLO BASCAR - BRIDGE OF FIRE

Clemencio Montecillo Bascar was a former Professor and Vice President for Corporate Affairs of the Western Mindanao State University. He is a recepient of various local, regional, and national awards in songwriting, playwriting, poetry, and public service. Several of his poems had been published in international literary magazines and journals such as, Foliate Oak, BRICKrhetoric, About Place, Torrid Literature, Mused-theBellaOnline Lietrary Review, and The Voices Project. He had written and published by the Western Mindanao State University two books of poetry, namely; "Fragments of the Eucharist" and "Riots of Convictions." In the Philippines, some of his poems appeared in the such magazines as Women's, MOD, and Chick. 
At present, he writes a column in the Zamboanga Today daily newspaper and resides at 659 Gemini Street, Tumaga, Zamboanga City, Philippines. He is married to the former Miss Melinda Climaco dela Cruz and blest with three children, Jane, Lynnette, and Timothy James.   

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​Bridge of Fire

​this CROwd is swallowing
me alive. it's my first encounter with
 PRESENce;
as rip van winkle in a nightmare.
 
bucKETS of garbage; host of mutants
raised in coconut venigar; peddlers of tombs and
coffins; rainbow in the mud; everyone's bridge
HOMEward.
 
CRoss-eyed
cat chewing a cockroach
behind a log; ants
stage a protest march for stealing their catch;
 
In a NEWly replenished pond
the
FRogs begin their
fertility DANce; it's
mid-MORNING along the
the equaTOR.
 
i doubt if there's still sunrise
to expect with the explosion of tyrants
in the vineyard of my grandfather; i did not notice
anyone drinking wine until the last branch was devoured
by a wild fire lit by a crippled ant;
but who cares? tomorrow there will be
no one left crawling on this molten rock.