Standing in Line

By Justine C. Tajonera

We are there for only
two hours
and yet
it is a flashback
of cliches:

that there are
professional fixers,
that there are
obsolete
equipment, like
a rundown
automated
cashier,
hanging around
for no reason,
that there are
lines that go
nowhere
and counters
with no
labels.

The rain
pours
and styrofoam boxes
stand agape, pointless,
collecting water leaking from
the roof
and trash from
people who have mistaken
the boxes
as trash bins.

For once,
I look into the eyes
of the man suggesting
that I short-circuit the line
with a few hundred pesos
and I tell him sincerely,
"Okay lang sa akin
pumila."*

I am not a cow
being herded.
Despite the
inconveniences,
I choose
to stand
in line.

NBI Satellite Office in Quezon City Hall
Sept. 9, 2009


*English translation: It's okay for me to stand in line.