CLIFFORD RIVERA: PROFILE 

Clifford says that he is a "lowly undergrad" of Fordham University at the Lincoln Center. His education and influences include creative writing workshops with Timothy Liu, Beau Sia, and Lara Stapleton.  

He admires the writing styles of Jessica Hagedorn, R. Zamora Linmark, Emmanuel Lacaba, and Reggie Cabico. His favorite works though, are from Rimbaud (everything), Sartyre (Nausea), Celine (Journey to the End of the NIght), Rand (The Fountainhead), and A Catcher in the Rye. 
 
 
ARE YOU FILIPINO?
(PILIPINO KA BA?) 
 
I’m as Filipino as mango sorbet,  
use chopsticks for pancit, that’s lo-mein to you.  
The Last Supper hangs in the kitchen  
covered with pokeman band-aids and grease.  
My ricecooker lies dormant in the closet  
with Imelda Marcos excess, britta dreams.  
I used to pick up lint with my fingers  
but found them coarse as rice.  

Down San Miguels  
to dull the pain Sinatra’s way,  
desire sampaguitas for Valentine’s Day,  
Betamax charity, a decent tan...  
Miss Saigon stubs remind me:  
If color is lacking my blood thou shall take...  

“Ovaltine, 2 sugars, please.”  
I’m flashing my credit card like an illegal alien  
at JollyBee, with its immaculate toilets.  
No dogs allowed in McDonalds.  
I admire the reds, whites, and blues;  
the Fil/Am flags’ reflection on my jeep.  

Knees shake recalling Ate’s catillion:  
tragic tsismis of aging debutantes  
with fantasies of Lou Diamond Phillips,  
donning barong and Marlboro like a regular on MTV.  
They drool at his colonizing swagger;  
a cowboy posing with a straw sombrero, alibata  
tattoos, gushing with Cunanan charisma --  
one soulpull modder-pucker...  
 
 
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