Conchitina Cruz

Dark Hours

Fiona

If I keep still inside this shadow, it is as if I am not here. If I keep still enough, there is no proof you are not here with me.

the tenderness of familiarity is intimately incisive in nature; love is a sort of undressing devotion

She drew her scalpel across its skin like a lover tracing the distance from this city to a beloved’s across a map. She undressed it to the bone, prowling the alleys of its nerves and vessels with the certainty of a frequent visitor. 

It’s easy to get lost in this book, which is great for the extended metaphor of the city. I will come back to this again and again. Rating might change once I read Chingbee Cruz’s other books, but for now, I at least know I’m changed.

Carmen

The Sealey Challenge Book 4!

It’s easy to get lost in this book, which is great for the extended metaphor of the city. I will come back to this again and again. Rating might change once I read Chingbee Cruz’s other books, but for now, I at least know I’m changed.

"Somewhere, maybe a phone will ring, maybe someone will put her hand on your shoulder and tell you the news you’ve been waiting for, but that is another life."

there's a kind of serenity in reading dark hours. the way she writes a poem is all new to me. the narrative is prosaic but nonetheless poetic, bracing.

Amrie Cruz

read excerpts during college. now that i've read it in full (years after graduation), it reads more like remorse this time. a left-leaning filipino poet who writes in english at comfortable parts of the city often churns out something along the lines of "i too suffer. but isn't it some brand of selfishness to linger on my troubles when i'm surrounded by worse?"

Dark Hours

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