April Mae M. Berza is the author of Confession ng isang Bob Ong Fan (Flipside, 2014) and Berso de Berza (Charging Ram, 2012.) Her poems and short stories appeared in numerous publications in America, France, Canada, Belgium, Romania, India, Japan, Great Britain, and the Philippines. Her poems are translated into Crimean Tatar and Filipino. Some of her poems are published in the Philippines Graphic Reader, Liwayway, Belleville Park Pages, Haiku Journal, The Siren, Poetica, Three Line Poetry, Calliope, Maganda, Metric Conversions, Ani, The Manila Times, Letters to my Bully, Remembering Rizal, Voices from the Diaspora, Madswirl, The Stardust Gazette, The Riveter Review, Asahi Haikuist Network, Contemporary Verse 2, and elsewhere. She used to work for the associate editor position of Toe Good. Her poem “E-Martial Law” was broadcast on IndoPacific Radio on KPFA 94.1FM/kpfa.org and her poem “A Page from History” was broadcast on WYCE Electric Poetry 88.1 FM in Michigan, USA. She is a member of the Poetic Genius Society. Her two haiku entries were featured in the 9th Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest Selected Haiku Submissions Collection, July 2017. She was nominated for the Nick Joaquin Literary Awards 2023. Also, she got invited to submit her life story to the Ellen DeGeneres show last 2012. She received an Honorable Mention in the 19th HIA Haiku Contest and the 7th Akita Russia-Japan Haiku Contest. She currently resides in Taguig, Philippines.

Going Back to My Childhood Days

I slept in the heart of the mountains
To embrace my ancestral land with love.

I played hide-and-seek with the clouds
To go back to my childhood days.

I ate a plate of the moon and stars
To be full of awe, joy, and wonder.

I sang the acapella of a choir of raindrops
To harmonize with the rhythms of freedom.

I danced with the sunshine of summer
To protect the farms of my youth.

I hugged the giant bark of the oldest tree
To honor the sacrifices of our peasants.

The Goddess of Books and the Singer-Songwriter

(For Dale)
 
I am but a goddess of books
welcoming you with my loveliest chapters,
the soul of eternal words and finite worlds.
 
You are a mortal, a singer-songwriter,
who crafts poetic kisses and embraces
to my lips, mellifluous.
 
Music embraces the two of us
and I sing paeans for you
as you immortalize me with songs. 
 
Open up the library of my wounds
and a vast kingdom of lexicons
will show you a way to my heart.
 
The gates to a secret Paradise
are enchanted pages to my skin,
leaf through the pages and own me.
 
My bones and sinews
are passages to a beautiful realm,
read me up until dawn.
 
We both drink the most divine wine
from an immortal cup,
making you a deity, an equal. 
 
We meet in bookshelves of dreams,
the sweetest Philomels serenading.
Worship me with welcoming worlds.