Day 24 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2022

Maureen Thorson's NaPoWriMo prompt begins today by noting, "Hard-boiled detective novels are known for their use of vivid similes, often with an ironic or sarcastic tone," and quoting some great examples from "[n]ovelist Raymond Chandler," then following up with a challenge "to channel your inner gumshoe, and write a poem in which you describe something with a hard-boiled simile. Feel free to use just one, or try to go for broke and stuff your poem with similes till it’s . . . as dense as bread baked by a plumber, as round as the eyes of a girl who wants you to think she’s never heard such language, and as easy to miss as a brass band in a cathedral." Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “[W]rite a superhero or supervillain poem. It's OK to write a poem about an established hero or villain, like Thor, Green Lantern, or The Tick. But it would be more fun to have poems about lesser known (as in, you just invented them) heroes and villains. People like The Recycler, Dr. Dirty Dishes, or the diabolical Pie Bandit. Save the day; wreck the day; but please, write a poem.” Merging both prompts, I turn again to the aswang myth. Not the monsters in my novel-in-progress, but an earlier aswang from a previous century, a manananggal — a woman who can split off her upper body, growing wings to fly off to hunt human prey, leaving her lower body standing below, waiting to reunite. I wondered what a high-born Philippine woman would be like as an aswang, a kind of superhero or supervillain. This is my eighth curtal sonnet this NaPoWriMo. Aswang Lady in Crinoline, 1875 She stands in a forest clearing, looking up at the moon, dressed in an evening gown, a Maria Clara with a hoop skirt. Her waist ripping, she lifts off, torn satin shreds hanging, like bloody kite tails, while down on the forest floor, bright against the dirt, is the bottom of her dress, a church dome glowing in moonlight, hoops holding the round shape whole. Dark goddess flies above the earth, hunting a treasure hidden in a womb,                                    thwarting another birth. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Here's a photo showing a Filipina from the 1870s in a fancy dress with a voluminous skirt, called a Maria Clara, from the article "The Filipiniana Dress: The Rebirth of the Terno," from Vinta Gallery.             Image from Vinta Gallery. Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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