the blueshift journal

tonight, we sleep at the cemetery

bring chichiryas, fresh pandesal, and lolo’s Red

Horse beer to the headstones. a ceremony of dancing

with ghosts. of burned wax staining cement coffins

 

we unearth our mouths, our favorite tagalog

love songs be a prayer beneath bintana

 

i am the 4 year old daughter of a white

man’s mouth. walking into my mother’s

Ocean for the first time. the sound of

sakayan engines. calloused fishnet hands.

dig my ears into water. mama teaches me to pray

to my ancestors. list each spirit’s name

I can remember. even tita marie olga. chant,

until the red ants swallow our legs whole.