THE

HAIYAN
DEAD
do not sleep.
 The Haiyan Dead
1 do not sleep.
2 They walk our streets
3 climb stairs of roofless houses
4 latchless windows blown-off doors
5 they are looking for the bed by the
window
6 cocks crowing at dawn lizards in the
eaves
7 they are looking for the men
8 who loved them at night the women
9 who made them crawl like puppies
10 to their breasts babes they held in arms
11 the boy who climbed trees the Haiyan
dead
12 are looking in the rubble for the child
13 they once were the youth they once
were
14 the bride with flowers in her hair
15 red-lipped perfumed women
16 white-haired father gap-toothed crone
17 selling peanuts by the church door
18 the drunk by a street lamp waiting
19 for his house to come by the girl
dreaming
20 under the moon the Haiyan dead are
21 looking for the moon washed out
22 in a tumult of water that melted their
bodies
23 they are looking for their bodies that
once
24 moved to the dance to play
25 to the rhythms of love moved
26 in the simple ways--before wind
27 lifted sea and smashed it on the land--
28 of breath talk words shaping
29 in their throats lips tongues
30 the Haiyan dead are looking
31 for a song they used to love a poem
32 a prayer they had raised that sea had
33 swallowed before it could be said
34 the Haiyan dead are looking for
35 the eyes of God suddenly blinded
36 in the sudden murk white wind
seething
37 water salt sand black silt--and that is
why
38 the Haiyan dead will walk among us
39 endlessly sleepless--
 WHAT WERE THE IMAGES OF
DEVASTATION DRAMATIZED IN THE
POEM?
Line 3: “climb
stairs of
roofless
houses”

Line 4:
“latchless
windows blown
off doors”
Asian Development Bank. (2017, December 27). Helping Rebuild My Home Province after
Yolanda. Retrieved from https://www.adb.org/news/features/helping-rebuild-my-home-
province-after-yolanda
Line 10: “to their breasts babes they
held in arms”

A Mother and an Infant Affected by the Typhoon. (2013, November). Retrieved from
Click here and donate to Those affected by Typhoon Yolanda for Donate to help those affected by Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). (n.d.). Retrieved
from https://www.mycause.com.au/page/65722/donate-to-help-those-affected-by-typhoon-yolanda-haiyan
Line 22: “In a tumult of water that melted
their bodies”

Google Person Finder for Typhoon Yolanda Launched • Local Pulse. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.localpulse.net/google-person-finder-typhoon-yolanda/
 Lines 23, 24
and 25: “they
are looking
for their
bodies that
once
moved to the
dance to
play
(25), C. (n.d.). Remembering Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) 3 years Anniversary -
to the
Steemit. Retrieved from https://steemit.com/supertyphoonhaiyan/@crazyasyouthink/
remembering-super-typhoon-haiyan-yolanda-3-years-anniversary
rhythms of
love moved”
 Lines 26
and 27:
before wind
lifted sea
and
smashed it
on the
land--
R. (n.d.). WRAP: Yolanda brings monster winds, giant waves. Retrieved from https://www.rappler.com/nation/
43221-typhoon-yolanda-wrap-philippines
 THERE WERE CLEAR REFERENCES TO WHAT THE DEAD WERE
DOING IN WHAT WAS LEFT OF THEIR TOWN AFTER THE
TYPHOON. WHAT DO THESE EVENTS SUGGEST ABOUT THE
PERSONA’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE EVENT?

• The persona’s attitude is

restless because all those
who are affected are
waiting for the next •
storm. They want to be
ready and they don’t
want to repeat the same
mistake again due to
ignorance and too much
confidence.
 TEXTUAL EVIDENCES
• The author is reminiscing the moments that happened before the storm came. The
(persona) is longing for the people who died during the events of Haiyan


• The style of the poem is never ending. It has no end.


• The dead become here become not literal ghosts (though they could be, given the
circumstances) but more of a manifestation of the lives lost in the vast devastation, of how
life once thrived in that locality before the storm.


• suddenly blinded water salt sand black silt - what could this mean?? This is possibly the
reason why they keep searching because they’re being “blinded” and so they don’t know
where the salvation is or the aid and things they need to recover from Haiyan. Take note
that until now, they still haven’t recovered.

• The persona is reminiscing moments that happened before the storm came and keeps
searching for hope together with the Haiyan dead. The dead may not be literal ghosts
(though they could be, given the circumstances) but more of a manifestation of the lives
lost in the vast devastation, of how life once thrived in that locality before the storm.