In Pantophily

a poem by Roger B Rueda

For you, phantophile, I mean anthrophile, lover of floras,
of corkwood, moringa, squash, banana, hibiscus:
retrophilia, phagophilia, sitophilia,
philocaly, philomath, mageirocophilous -
all this love, of the past, of eating, of food,
of splendour, of knowledge, of cooking;
this is chart and boutique:
cynophile, basiphile, dromophile, anginaphile,
atephile, automysophile, scopophile.
A dog crosses a narrow street,
near the buildings in ruins, so dirty,
in Iloilo City and stares at you.
Love this: lygophilia, amaxophilous, lithophilous.
Be in the midst of shingles, in the midst of jeepneys,
amongst dimness. Nelophilous: you love glasses.
Philopornist, philotechnical.
Why not adore the whore?
Love that - a junction, all that jazz
is not near, all the mess you hold onto, furtive.
Palaeophile, hormephile,
ornithophilous, apiphilous: you, antiquary,
don’t shock me, fertilised by birds, by bees.
Oneirophilous: all this a way
to dream pinkish corkwood petals, clinophile,
on the bed you love; phyllophilous,
petrophilous, stigmatophilous,
traumatophilous:
love leaves, live near rocks,
cut tender and stinging; for you topophile, sociophile:
what place do you love? Potamophily?
Thalassophily? Apeirophily? Agoraphily? Scolionophily?
Domatophily? Ecophily? Koinoniphily?
Logophilous, verbophily: all these words
for passion, for you, graphophilous, all these ways
to say believe in ideophily, joeyphily,
aphenphosmphily, automysophily, to say let us live closer.