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LiteraturePoetry

Poetry from Barbara Jane Reyes

written by Guest Contributor May 7, 2015

 ***

 

To Emigrate (Patriarch Parable)

 

In the old century, the patriarch proclaims, una doctora, no daughter of mine.

Ambition is for the men to wrangle, the bodies of others are out of bounds.

 

In the old century, the matriarch breathes, big bodied. Storied vessel. Still,

Blood is men’s work, little one. Fixing of bodies too big for such small hands.

 

In the old century, the patriarch loosens his hands. His eyes see many things,

But he holds his tongue. This is how it has always been in the old country.

 

In the old century, the matriarch does not utter a word when the daughter

Is taken. Wedlocked young bride, she births. In the old country, this is how it is.

 

In the new country, the young mother fashions her daughters’ wings. No time

For woe and weeping. She knows her work, now solitary and thankless. She waits.

 

In the new country, there is mercy, she still prays. The young father rules

His three-bedroom domain. One by one, the daughters’ wingspans grow.

 

In the new country, outside his four walls, the wild white world is out of bounds.

It clips his tongue. It gelds him. It strips him. It breaks him. He shakes his fists.

 

In the new country, the father smolders. Putang ina! He roars. His curses boom

In three clipped tongues. The daughters shake their heads and slam their doors.

 

In the new country, the father dreams of before – la docilidad, ang mahinhin.

One by one, the daughters shrink his dominion. In the new century, girls leave.

 

In the new country, the mother’s a sainted matriarch. The old father’s emptied.

Body does not abide, tongue and brain adrift. In the new century, this is disease.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Be a Runaway Daughter, Not the Much-Desired Son

 

 

Daughter of sana lalaki na lang iyan, she thinks I’ll get knocked up fast I’ll show her

 

Daughter of never good enough, she wails, a boy would always be his best

 

Daughter of the marks she leaves, visible to all, even in church, in confessional, I bear

 

Daughter of cower and cover, this body loved by other women, she wishes again I were her son instead

 

Daughter of deleted phone numbers and blocked calls, she blows up my cell phone if only to castigate me

 

Daughter of flight (Aguila, my grandmother’s name), fourth girl, seventh child, our bodies tire of bearing

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Be Bound 

We are not scarred –

Scars tell stories

 

Of unbound bodies

Healing – proud flesh.

 

We are wounds, vessels

Bound, together, dark-

 

Flesh our birthright.

Half-emptied, weighted,

 

We are beasts, broken.

We are small, darker

 

Than your binds, opening

Our unmended flesh.

 

 

 

 

 


 

Poetry from Barbara Jane ReyesBarbara Jane Reyes is the author of Gravities of Center, Poeta en San Francisco, and Diwata. Her fourth book, To Love as Aswang, is forthcoming in late 2015. She teaches in the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program at University of San Francisco. Find her online at http://barbarajanereyes.com.

Poetry from Barbara Jane Reyes was last modified: May 6th, 2015 by Guest Contributor
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