TRANSMITTER SIGNALS FROM A YOUNG BROWN FEMINIST
dear queer choreography moro folkloric dance moves to madonna’s like a virgin &
gay immigrant child raised in the 90’s not to be mistaken for digital natives who obsess over throwbacks prince of bel air & metallic balloon pants
turned jungle asia monstera print
when gasoline was under a dollar minimum wage $3.75 when dhs once split to form a three-headed beast dear competition of high femme-ness
wooden abanicos like knives pair of jaunty sunbursts stilettos not on the cover
of the zaragozian but instead veiled in funerary sunday chic
dear limbs of my women so much drama de-centering comeuppance dear archipelago swag techno versions
of diasporic appliqué didn’t claim citizenship until 25
after years of teenage nerddom wet n’ wild lips teased bangs at junior high
skating rinks talent for slash carnival show then puberty came like
bobby brown’s no prerogative dear festival of another virgin in black biker shorts
raptorial nails & slumber parties ferris wheel lit over a soccer field
dear coarse summer grasses church basketball courts & radio hits on police brutality dear you who question who could live as a boy
as america’s brown pop stars in fake leather
art deco neck chains spell out your first girlfriend’s nickname
mohawk black hair skin of cassia eyes like pizecua dear self
who ran far away who could not be father’s son father’s right mind
even with a penciled zorro stache rolled cameo sleeves
wing tipped taxi dancehall shoes liberated sluts laugh
clasping your uncle’s arm like doves creeping false holy dear providence under pressure culture vultures
belly bulging with trapped love ancestral grief
saints of transmission kilig kweens to believe in painted bisayan princes poet haranistas unusual & rare writing into existence
pantheon of goddexxex
KEEPER OF BLADES
she transforms into a keeper of blades, herald of salt and bread stacked like sagada’s hanging sepulchers.
egg-shaped heirloom of black pearls, pollen from calla lilies pock the mantle. her handsome head turns thorny, shattering her family’s fine plates on a polished floor:
pins marks on a pomelo tree, silver brocade of a visayan leopard holds an anger that hates moderation.
she wants something she’s told she shouldn’t have. her husband does not articulate this but shows how his kind of freedom was not designed for her. so she keeps naming what intercepts between her window and the noise in her head:
rainbow eucalyptus,
brandy, casava,
jade earring, a servant,
a nurse, a teacher,
anna and the king of siam,
wicky-wacky-woo
she smashes everything until fractures blur— to be of the ruling-ruling class
To read the rest, you can purchase the Spring 2023 SomaFlights special issue here.
