Since 1998, Pizo has done readings of his works at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the Waipahu Civic Center, and  at the Student Campus Center of the University of Hawaii.  He was a fellow for poetry at the 39th National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete City last May 8-26, 2000 under the direction of Dr. Edith L. Tiempo. 

The "Black Dog" is included in the # 75 issue of the Bamboo Ridge Press [Hawai'i's Writers Journal.  www.bambooridgepress.com] released last December 1999.  He says, he wrote the piece "in response to the snide remarks often made by other ethnic races to us, in regards to this eating of dog's meat, preferably the black one during the plantation-days era of the Filipinos in Hawai'i."

Beloved Frank de Limas, Willy ks,
everytime you meet me on the narrow
streets of Waipahu or Ewa or Kalihi,
in wedding celebrations or birthday parties,
in the mortuaries or pharmacies,
in the supermarkets or churches,
even in the schools or cinema houses,
you never fail to ask me about that
                                          black dog.

There's not a need to defend ourselves.
It's impractical, it's useless!
Yet, I, a typical pinoy dog eater,
considered the most shameful remnant
of this human race, still need to set
this black dog thing in a more relevant
perspective.

The smell of dog adobo floating lightly
through your aquiline noses is way,
way different from the real feeling,
from the real thing.
May it be tame or wild dog,
May it be trained or neglected dog,
May it be smart or idiot dog,
May it be rice-fed or chow-fed dog,
May it be pure-bred or native dog,
May it be yellow or brown dog,
When you roast them, their skin always
turns black anyway. 

Frank de Lima - a local comedian who wrote stories and sang songs about the Filipinos that bordered on being derogatory.

Willy K. - a popular hawaiian singer who made a fleeting remark about black dog and the Filipinos in one of his christmas songs.

Waipahu, Ewa, Kalihi -  Districts in Hawai'i where there is a large concentration of Filipinos.
 

Mother Tongue

a.
Thinking you could purge-out once and for all
the f-words, the s-words, and other demonic 
words dwelling free of rent inside your 4-year-old's 
mouth, "stick-out your tongue," you commanded, 
"and hold it still for the duration of the procedure."

b.
Scooping-out with a baby's spoon the paste of ripe
chilies you just ground in a stone-carved mortar,
you spread it the way you often did with guava jelly
on your toasted bread:  Thickly over that petrified
tongue.

c.
At almost the same moment, the stored-up saliva
overflowed from the sides of his mouth coating
generously the back and the palm of your left hand
steadying that jerking chin.  "'Tang Ina!"  You yelled
in disgust.

Candid Moment 
Dapitan, Sampaloc
Manila, Philippines
May 20, 2000
 

Oh, I am so sorry boy!
I just took a shot of you taking a pee
on the smoldering sidewalk.

This old, slinking demon did succeed
in tricking my brain to freeze your
candid moment in film.

The only consolation I can assure after
taking away your infantile dignity-
the Nikon was a few feet away from your

behind, so there was no arching flow of
fluid, only a puddle of yellow matter on
the concrete, your white shorts lowered

to your feet, and those cute, fleshy buns
baked by some bored angels in heaven.
 
 
 

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