ERIC ABALAJON
Living With Aeronautic Noise
The entire right side used to be tall grass
and fenced, where an occasional airplane
bursts out or descends. The crowded houses
and sidewalks across gave the impression that
it isn’t too bad living with aeronautic noise.
A business park was outlined on the property
when the city needed more runways for tourists.
People could now roam the grid populated by
a mall, a convention center, condos, call centers, and
hotels, while some blocks are still up for sale, between
wide streets with names like Explorer and Enterprise.
New towers, with undisclosed purpose, loom like mushrooms
slowly blooming around the cleared landscape. In the meantime,
residents who still call their neighborhood ‘Airport’
enjoy the wide-open spaces when it cools in the afternoons.
Eric Abalajon is currently a lecturer at the University of the Philippines Visayas, Iloilo. Some of his works have appeared in Revolt Magazine, Loch Raven Review, Ani, Katitikan, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, The Tiger Moth Review, Marias at Sampaguitas, Tint Journal, and elsewhere. Under the pen name Jacob Laneria, his chapbook of short fiction Mga Migranteng Sandali (Kasingkasing Press, 2020) was included in CNN Philippines’ best Filipino books of 2020. He lives near Iloilo City. You can find him on Twitter @JLaneria and on Instagram @jacob_laneria.