Upland

Upland

Dr Abe V Rotor

Aerial view from a helicopter, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.  

Photo by the author, circa 1986

You are a minuscule

of the Fertile Crescent,

a far cry from Euclid's measure.

You run along the margin

of the northwestern coast,

where there are no rivers that cross,

and lie at the heels of the Cordillera,

where there are no valleys in which to hide;

but you are a good provider

to a kind and gentle people

tanned with sweat and soil

and tempered with austere living

that speaks of their heart and art;

a geometry of functional beauty.

- AV Rotor, Light in the Woods, 1995, Megabooks