a student calculating and summing up words in his statistics class

by Denver E. Torres

for Ms. Diana N. Macalong

the big and wide windows were the entry points of her inspiration,
from the sun, its rays, into the heat and to our teacher’s heart
and to some few. the doors in the other side were our entrance. both
of them served as exit points of the insipid lessons that jumped out
from our heads or hairs. they leaped from one armchair to another.
then as they exited out the windows, they fell unjustly into the road
where they died. they, the children of our teacher’s mouth died in the
avenue of disinterest. others who used the two doors were killed
in the stampede of feet, the students hurrying to their next classes,
at the corridors after the bell interrupted her.

Gays in the University benches

by Denver E. Torres

His presence planted a
bomb in my chest
"Jay Lim is here," my
classmate said. I
blushed, red like a
pinched skin. His smile
is the detonator. I
exploded, dead and
then alive again as
he faded in the corner
of the SC Building.