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Karina Lagdameo-Santillan

A Filipina from Manila, Philippines. A longtime Humanist. A Creative Director and Advertising Communications professional for many years, she has been active in the Community for Human Development, facilitating workshops for personal and social change to help build a culture of peace, nondiscrimination and nonviolence. She is currently a freelance writer and a volunteer editor-writer for Pressenza in Asia.

To my guide

POEM     In the darkness With eyes closed In the silence I call you   I sit and breathe in Waves of calmness Waiting quietly For you   I ask no questions I seek no answers I simply want to…

With eyes wide open

POEM     I can see the sky getting darker I can hear the gods playing with thunder. I can see the wind blowing stronger I can hear the dogs barking harder.   I can feel you when you cry…

Those times when we were young

a personal narrative   I was rummaging through some stuff from the past to let go, when I came upon an old magazine– a Rogue Magazine (circa May 2008!) that featured its first annual Philippine Music Portfolio featuring the heavyweights,…

Beauty in the bleakest of times

POEM     A smile on the face Of a young man passing by A bird on a branch Who looks right at you, then at the sky The whisper of the wind On a hot and arid day A…

Quartet: Remembering the China Man

PROSE POEM     #1.The Turtle Pond Mornings, as a child, I watch him go down the stairs The China man, clad in all white, who lives upstairs. Newspaper in hand, all ready for a day’s work, But, before anything…

Quo Vadis, Philippines?

Opinions   I’m a retired senior citizen of the Philippines, just one of your average middle-class Filipinas. Last May 9, 2022, I, and millions of citizens, turned out to cast their votes in a hotly contested National Election for the…

To the One

POEM       Be it mother or father son or daughter brother sister your beloved life companion… This is To the One.   We are stronger than we think. We are deeper than we feel. We are wider than…

The Bird by my Window

POEM       Morning companion, my buddy, my friend Every day, she sits on her favorite branch Right outside my bedroom window.   She wiggles, she chirps She stretches her wings She looks at me, straight in the eye.…

Hymn to the Human

POEM       O, lord of all divinity, I ask for your guiding grace and beauty.   In this world, a wondrous rainbow Of races, colors, and creeds,   How can we continue down this path of impunity. Show…

Conflict in Ukraine: a virtuoso composer-musician speaks out

I never knew that Alexandr Misko was Russian. All I knew and what mattered was that he plays a mean guitar in a unique fingerstyle that will dazzle you and he composes melodies that penetrate and inspire. His music on…

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