a refuse pit across the street
this clan with kids constrained by
poverty. we’re sent to school
and church and we’ve each other.
to pick fresh fruit, to sell scrap
free falling from dump trucks where we’re
first to forage and find. my
protector, my big brother,
trades up for dried fish, meat to eat.
sea to see we run to swim
with cousins, friends - our meek compound.
world riches, lusts to smother
our fun and freedom; such sweet
lives a gift from heaven’s High.
-Gary Edward Geraci
“Upper Carmen” is written in the form ‘bref double’ and depicts a scene I witnessed during my travels to my wife’s home town and country, Cagayan de Oro, Philippines. The neighborhood we drove through, Upper Carmen, was located next to the city land fill. The land fill supported several neighboring ‘compounds’, close-knit, extended family units, that depended largely upon the landfill for their very sustenance. In Western standards, the living conditions I saw here could be described as nothing less than horrific - yet you wouldn’t know it by the expression and activity of those living here. Animated by faith and family these people did more than just survive - they thrived - living life, with all its hazards, diseases, and setbacks with smiles, purpose, and prosperity.
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