Manette Yuzon Cortes, a Filipina, is the youngest child of Fortunata Aquino and Amado M. Yuzon, the founder of the United Poets Laureate, International. She is married to Eduardo J. Cortes with whom she has three sons – all of whom are married.
Manette finished her degree in AB, Child Study at Maryknoll College which is run by American nuns; and her post graduate studies in MS, Guidance and Counseling from the De La Salle University. After her studies, she trained at the Teacher’s College in Columbia University for the intervention of language learning disabilities. She put up her private practice as an educational therapist, and as a counseling psychologist in Manila from 1993 until 2013. She was one of ten Awardees for Distinction for her work with children from Maryknoll College in 2003. In the near future, she intends to pursue her PhD in Clinical Psychology.
Her inspiration to write poetry started a couple of years ago. It was spurred further by the demise of her older sister, Maria Remedios Brown. From then on, “Poetry has become her line.”
Life is bound by time.
A fragile bubble floating
Poof! It’s here then gone.
Spring heralds good news!
Nature dressed in bright colors!
Life springing from dust.
Heart beating, thoughts race!
Blood flows, hormones raging!
Cupid has struck me!
Wealth: Everyone’s dream!
A two-edged sword
Wisdom is the key
Have you ever bathed
in a mid-April shower with someone special?
The droplets trickling down your head?
Your face, your neck, your whole body and even your toes
Wake up your spine into wordless poetry!
Oh, such gentle droplets of love
Are so irresistible
and become intense!
You chase each other as lovers do!
Emotions run wild and bodies interlock.
You gaze into each others’ eyes
Crescendo mounts, and heart to heart
You enter into each other’s being
Content with the ecstasy of unity!
Moments turn into hours
Hours turn into days and into months!
Then months become years
Years turn into infinity!
Love never ages
It remains the same
Watered by the gentle water
Of April showers!
As I gaze out my hotel window
My eyes graze upon the ground
The dried grass and fresh bayou
Are interspersed together in the sun!
One look and all seem fresh and green
But a closer scrutiny of the place
Gives one a doubt of the unseen
Attention given in the past countless days.
Many more tell tale signs are evident
Of the garden way below
Barbed wire of hidden vines bent
From age are falling way too low.
Neglected it seems to me
Is what has become of it
Despite of what it is right now
Smiling wild flowers are there to see!
Around this place are mountain ranges
Their beauty glistening in the sun
Too large and vast to be manicured
Unlike the small garden within my plan.
The garden of life is a wilderness
Too vast for people to render
The care it needs leaves us clueless
Yet it is cared for secretly
By the Great Unseen Gardener!
One, two, three
One, two, three
Three beats to a measure
Nothing more, if you please!
If you follow the counting
You’ll be sure to follow
If you cannot follow
You’ll hear someone bellow!
One, two, three
One, two, three
It really seems so simple
Although someone’s feet will surely fumble!
The couples who dance in harmony
Enjoy the music as they glide about the floor
But others who cannot seem to move on
Fumble and groan with every step they take.
The waltz of life is beautiful
No matter how hard it takes
To glide or to fumble and fall into a misstep
Just keep moving on until you fall into step!
