Morong, without its river — 2 Sep 2026
Street-level archive image, Morong river mouth area, April 2019.
The morning advisory names the rivers of Bataan. Balanga. Morong.
The storm named for a mouse-deer is turning away; it will not land here. But the monsoon it dragged behind is already on this coast.
I went to Morong to walk the river — the one every rainy season walks whether anyone looks or not. The archive has the town: walls, resorts, one thin line of sea on the horizon. April 2019: a dry lot, dead grass, wires across a clear sky.
The archive has no river here. It never did.
Water that moves doesn't hold still for a photograph. The record keeps the town and loses the river. So this piece is the gap: Morong, without its river.
The rain log, three of five.