“jota de manila” and “i recognize the silhouette”
June 11, 2024
jota de manila
i recognize the silhouette
of the philippines on a map
over 7000 islands shaped
like a head
snapping back
from an explorer
slapping their flag
onto the shore
a body splintered
into drifting islands
chained by a cry
pulsing like drumbeats
stalks still growing
lanced into stumps
peg-legged warrior
reawakens like mayon
volcano spewing gas
blood boiling over
after every typhoon
coconut trees sway
with the gales hold
onto each shell & dig
deeper into the earth
of california on a map
state rectangle in shape
lower half bent as if
knocked behind the knee
stolen indigenous land
built on crouched backs
of migrant farm workers
itliong chavez manongs
housed japanese americans
in stables at tanforan race
track during world war II
a slit like when making paper
snowflakes marks san francisco
bay incision disappears in an
outline of the united states
my eyes draw it home
rebuilt in 1906 after the earth
shook & flames screeched
again in 1989 i did homework
by candlelight after my 45-degree
street fractured in the middle
i am a barong tagalog custom made my piña fibers unraveling each
sleeve tugged across the pacific between the slit & splintered islands
my tongue mixing bago & old words fusing filipino & american
hyphenated my mother bayan colonized by my naturalized bahay
my soul is halved i carve a bridge between the two
