Five days only! Download your FREE DIGITAL COPY of 101 Fun Games, Activities, and Projects for English Classes, vol. 1 from June 21-25, 2013. Click HERE.
*The digital copy is a text-only copy. For full-color illustrated print copies, visit CreateSpace.com by clicking HERE.
Next Best Author Round 1 ends June 30. Vote here now for my first 2 chapters of The Lost Amulets!
Just a few comments from readers to give you an idea of what you’re missing!
“I liked your descriptions of the hill, from the beginning it felt like a place your not supposed to go, it felt dark and dangerous….The setting and pace is perfect, overall I liked it very much. I can’t wait to hear what happens next”
“I’ve just read your chapters and I’m thinking magic mushrooms! An interesting hill… I’ll never look at them in the same way again. Littlefolk? What a fantastic imagination you have to come up with such a creation. I liked the prologue, assuming everything in the book will hinge on the extraordinary hill. Well-written, beautiful linguistic skills and I think you could have a new world for children in your head.”
“….Wonderful set up, lots of suspense and the stakes are raised higher… I love what you’re doing. This has sort of a Gulliver’s Travels feel to it. And the fact that it draws on folklore of the Philippines makes it even more intriguing.”
“I love it. You’ve captured the brother/sister banter, child’s POV, the magic and reality of mysteries beyond with awesome characterization and description. Your style reflects the timelessness of the oral fairytale without sugarcoating. The timing, dialogue, and subsequent introduction of the King of the Hill is very well crafted and effective. I look forward to more, too!”
https://review.wizehive.com/voting/search/nextbestauthor/?q=c.p.+lapena&p=1
by Kitt Lapeña
thunder and lightning and papa
i was as proud as a little girl could be
at six
with my very own room
and my very own bed
and my very own closets
and a door i could close
to be alone
until the big storm
when thunder roared
and the lightning
turned the shadow of
our neighbor’s caimito tree
into grotesque arms
swaying and reaching
in the blue-white glow
of the stormy night
and the wind
lashed at the windows
and left an open one
banging
and banging
and banging
i lay awake
crouched under my blankets
trying to shut my eyes
not to see
the monster arms
reaching for me
but they did
and i forgot
how nice it was
to have my very own room
and my very own bed
and my very own closets
and a door i could close
and i screamed
until papa came
and papa stilled
the thunder and lightning
so i could sleep.
Pasig
7 July 1993
4:10 a.m.
…and papa was there
it was a dark and stormy night
and papa was there
to put me to sleep
i had always wanted to be a girl scout
and everyone’s mommy and daddy
was at the induction
to pin the tiny girl scout pin
and tie the white kerchiefs on
i thought no one would come
and just when they called my name
papa was there
mama brought me to my grade school graduation
but didn’t stay
and somewhere in the middle of it all
as i strained to see the tiny faces in the crowd
papa was there
with his camera and his big almost-smile
and when my tummy hurt
really bad in school and
i had to get an appendectomy
before the anaesthetic got to work
papa was there holding my hand
and his eyes and shining eyeglasses
were the last thing i saw
floating next to the iv bottle
and when i walked down the aisle
papa was there holding me
like a little girl again
and smiling and crying
as i was
and when bianca came into the world
i thought i saw papa at the window
in a green surgical smock and cap
and when i woke up
there was a bag of sweets and cakes
and papa
and when i die
wherever i go i’m quite sure
the first thing i see will be papa.
Pasig
7 July 1993
4:55 a.m.
At the end of the day I put my pens and brushes away
I shut down my computer, shut my lessons, shut my books
At the end of the day. I turn off the lights
Bid all goodnight and welcome the night
At the end of the day when it creeps in on spider legs
Swallowing the light and the sky turns gray
It’s the end of the day and the dark sets in
And my world narrows down to the thoughts in my head
Because at the end of the day the world disappears
And I live only in my mind pondering
If another day will end for me at the end of the day.
© Cindy Lapeña, 2013
Charlottetown
children of the earth we are born
in the womb of mother nature we are nurtured
we feed at her bountiful bosom and we grow strong
as children of the earth.
we are born children of the earth
we grow strong feeding from her bounty
and when we are grown we forget how we were born
from the womb of mother nature.
we were nurtured by the rich bounty of our mother earth
we have grown. we have forgotten.
we grow fat taking more than our share.
we grow rich taking more than we need for ourselves.
we grow greedy taking everything from the earth.
we have forgotten how we were born.
we have sold our mother to the highest bidder.
we have sold our lifeline to the earth.
we have sold our mother.
we have sold our earth.
we were born children of the earth
and children of the earth we shall die.
children of the earth we shall hunger for more
and when there is no more, we shall hunger again
for what no longer is. for the barren mother
stripped of her glory
stripped of her bounty
stripped of her beauty
and when she can no longer give
how else shall we live?
as children of the earth we shall die
on the barren grounds stripped of beauty and bounty
in filthy oceans populated by flotsam
on bare mountains that will be bare sand
in the bosom of a dead mother
her children will die.
© Cindy Lapeña, 2013
All 5 volumes of 101 Fun Games, Activities, and Projects for English Classes by Cynthia Lapeña are now available on Amazon.com!
Coming soon: Materials Kit
Spread the word to all English teachers! Activities are adaptable to all levels (primary, secondary, tertiary, ESL)
Cindy Lapeña: Creativity Unlimited 