Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that contains at least one of a different kind of simile — an epic simile. Also known as Homeric similes, these are basically extended similes that develop over multiple lines.”
Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day suggestion: “For the fourth and final Two-for-Tuesday prompt of the 2022 April Poem-A-Day Challenge: 1. Write a love poem, and/or... 2. Write an anti-love poem.”
I'm merging all three prompts today in a blank verse poem that will be part of my in-progress novel-in-poems about aswang, mythical Philippine monsters. In the narrative, this poem will follow the poem I wrote on Day 17. You might look at that poem in tandem with this one. A bit of background: the speaker's husband Santiago was a shapeshifting weredog. Also, a barangay (mentioned in the poem) is a Philippine community, akin to a small town or district.
Aswang Love, Revisited
My Santiago, I miss you so much. My great
black dog, my shapeshifting mastiff, my only
love. Even though you’ve been gone so many
years, you are my lodestar, my own Polaris,
my Sirius, bright jewel in my firmament,
your eyes a constellation in the dark sky
of your ebony fur, twin stars in coal-black heavens.
Tiyago, for many of those years after
you died so far away, I wasn’t certain
whether I still loved you. In a way, I hated
you for going off to war. I knew
it was all bloodlust, pure aswang addiction,
not for the glory and honor of our country.
Maybe I asked for too much, for you to give up
what you really were, for the safety of Malcolm.
He has grown into a man you would be proud
to call son. Malcolm resists the aswang
urges, which you knew so well, and devotes
himself to healing and service in our barangay.
He just came in and said you visited him
in your monster form as a huge black dog,
and I believe him, of course. And so I wanted
to tell you that we are well, we are happy,
and I thank you for watching over us so long.
Your love and also your secret aswang non-love
are present in our air, here inside our home,
your home, my dearest aswang, my north star.
—Draft by Vince Gotera [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]
Image by geralt on Pixabay.
Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks!
Ingat, everyone. ヅ |
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2 comments:
Even “monsters” can have a tender love. This is surprisingly touching. And an excellent epic simile too. Bravo.
Thanks, Bruce! I'm a little behind. Going to your blog now.
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