Poetics Presents

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Poetics Presents

Rolando S. delos Santos

Rolando S. delos Santos, known as Rolly, is an Art teacher at De La Salle Zobel School in the Philippines. He joined WVU in Fiction 98 and the T. S. Eliot room in 1999. He is presently a member of the Word Weavers Study Group. Rolly describes himself as "a visual artist who does poetry for fun."

He has four children and a very loving, supportive wife.

Writers' Village members look forward to reading more of Rolly's work

Rites of Passage

I have camped on
these grounds when
I was young,
braved the thick forest
to test if I
could be a man.

Leaves relentlessly fall
raining down on my tent
weave a golden mat on the dirt
just like it did before.

Insects stubbornly
invade the silence
unfazed by the dark night
or the snores from
other fathers
tending their sons.

Inside my tent
two growing boys
saturated with play
innocently asleep
carelessly sprawled
on the sleeping bag.

How I envy the trees
defying the wind outside
with each offspring
a success,
they stand
sturdy and proud.

I come back
to camp on these grounds
once more
to test if I
can be a father
to these youthful boys.