Autopsy

by Errol Merquita

Alpine Fellowship 2022 – Poetry Prize Runner Up

The embalmer opened

the body of the extremist.

There are no explosives,

bullets or guns inside.

He sliced the brain,

but words about bombing

or nukes aren’t there. 

He cuts the heart.

It carries no hatred

Instead lay bare a smirk.

He convinced himself

that their doctrines 

are not in the flesh.

Confused, the embalmer went outside

from the room of the dead.

He will run after them

in the streets, camps, schools, churches-

anywhere they are contriving.

He spits while passing by

the sleeping miskin.

He throws murderous stare

to women wearing black niqab,

but understands nothing

of the prayers at the Mosque.  

Extremism threatens the free,

the embalmer believes.

What he cannot see though

are dead bodies of men,

children, women-

piling under his

white free hands.

About the author:

Errol Merquita

Errol Merquita, humanitarian, project manager and poet, hails from Mindanao, Philippines.   He is a recipient of the University of the Philippines -Mindanao Chancellor’s Medal for Culture and Arts and Most Distinguished Alumnus Award.  He served as program coordinator in various UN agencies for humanitarian projects. He is an alumnus of the 2021 Summer School for Global Minority Rights by Tom Lantos Institute and National University of Public Service, University of London . His Binisaya poems are translated and  adapted into short films. He received distinctions for poetry and fiction in Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature in the Philippines. 

His poems and short stories are published in Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, National Commission for Culture and the Arts Ubod Series, Philippines Graphic, Davao Harvest, Mindanao Harvest, Philippine Humanities Review, Likhaan: Journal of Contemporary Philippine Literature, The Literary Apprentice and The Loch Raven Review.