Magkano?

How much is the land? How

much to get fish fresh from the market

and how much for the fishermen

to feed their families? How much for

a loved one who doesn’t leave?

How much for irrigation systems

a washroom that won’t get your feet

wet, pipes that aren’t flimsier than

rice paper? How much to become

a dual citizen of crisis, convoluted,

coffee staining the skin of your

poor country and with a body?

How much for a body that works?

How much to leave work and

be like the pirate pigs of the Pacific

returning riches to our people?

How much for my language back?

How much for no more children

forced to be street merchants in

a precarious state? How much for

a body that doesn’t belong

to the state? How much for air

that doesn’t go down like barbed

wire? How much for a single bed

in a city that’s desperate for sleep

so it won’t get sick? How much to live

in a body belabored, its unfortunate

machinery under-resourced?

How much for it not to hurt?

Magkano para wala nang kahirapan?

Magkano para wala nang patayan?

Magkano para wala nang pagsasamantala?

Sa mga manggagawa? Sa masa? Sa likas na yaman?

Magkano para wala nang korapsyon?

Magkano para wala nang imperyalismo?

Magkano ang mga serbisyo?

Magkano ang katawan?

Magkano ang lupa?

Magkano ang mga tao?

My country is sick.

My country is the one

making it sick. The people

are poor on purpose.