THEY CAN’T KILL US

what are you afraid of?
ghosts?
the dead that don’t know
how to die?

why? are they
coming for you?
what more
could they possibly

want?
to possess you?
to reincarnate
into the whites

of your knuckled
fists? wouldn’t
that hurt them?
wouldn’t
you think

it’s a pain
to live joint
in someone else’s
violence?

look behind you.

is anyone there?
is anything dying
to see
the light?

where are you going?
where have they gone?
aren’t you, now,
standing in their place?

By Elise Ofilada

Biography:

Elise Ofilada is an incoming freshman at Ateneo de Manila University. Her work can be found in SOFTBLOW, Rambutan Literary, and The Ekphrastic Review, among other places. She lives in Quezon City, Philippines.