Apo On The Wall by Bj Patino
There’s this man’s photo on the wall
Of my father’s office at home, you
Know, where father brings his work,
Where he doesn’t look strange
Still wearing his green uniform
And colored breast plates, where,
To prove that he works hard, he
Also brought a photo of his boss
Whom he calls Apo, so Apo could
You know, hang around on the wall
Behind him and look over his shoulders
To make sure he’s snappy and all.
Father snapped at me once, caught me
Sneaking around his office at home
Looking at the stuff on his wall- handguns,
Plaques, a sword, medals a rifle-
Told me that was no place for a boy
Only men, when he didn’t really
Have to tell me because, you know,
That photo of Apo on the wall was already
Looking at me around,
His eyes following me like he was
That scary Jesus in the hallway, saying
I know what you’re doing.
About the Poem
Apo on the wall by Patino is a poem talks about the
narration of a child’s point of view about his rigorous father and the hanging
photo around the wall called “Apo”. The poem tells the reality of life during
the reigning of Marcos alongside with the Martial Law.
"A poem that
will hit your feels and leave marks to your minds and hearts!"
It made me feel scared realizing how strict the time of
martial law could be. How every move you make should not anger the government
in which an instance that it does you may be put in jail or worse killed
because in that time there were no human rights.The message of the poem is to know about what Marcos had
done. Marcos keeps looking at
people around, searching for the wrongdoing that contradicts to his mandates,
like a scary Jesus in the hallway saying that I know what you are doing.
The poem provides an immeasurable impact on my part. Everything was overpowered causing every people covered with fear. It gives me a emotional feeling about how people have suffered during that time and how they overcome the Martial law.
The poem
indicates to give importance to the present condition.The message it gave to me is we
should appreciate the freedom that we got the freedom in which most of us takes
it for granted It affects me in a way that I understand further that the past
was a time which freedom was taken away Now in the present we should be
appreciating it more than we used to. The poem made me feel like I was the
child narrating what is the scenario during Martial Law. How it spread fear to
many of our country men. The message I recieved from the poem is be that during
Martial there are no colonist but our still our country has no freedom. Now, I
am really thankful that today's generation didn't experience what is it like to
have no freedom.
