Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Day 19 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2023


Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “We've already written poems related to smell and to sound, so let's keep the senses fresh with another sensory poem. For today's prompt, write a taste poem. ”

Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “One common feature of childhood is the monsters. The ones under the bed or in the closet; the odd local monsters that other kids swear roam the creek at night, or that parents say wait to steal away naughty children that don’t go to bed on time. Now, cast your mind back to your own childhood and write a poem about something that scared you – or was used to scare you – and which still haunts you (if only a little bit) today.”


Today, I'm writing an aswang poem. The aswang is a mythical Philippine monster that comes in many forms: shapeshifter, ghoul, vampire, and others. In this poem, I bring you a manananggal, a woman who splits herself at the waist, with the top half growing wings and flying into the night to hunt. Both prompts again, though my parents never told me stories about aswang, unlike other Filipino parents. I discovered the aswang through reading. "Taste" is incorporated into the poem both through a mention as well as through form.

Horror Story

The manananngal lifted into the
Air, her leathery wings
Shimmering against the stars
Twinkling in the heavens.
Every light in the dark town

Twinkled as well, constellations
Above and below. She hovered
Softly outside an open window,
The pregnant woman breathing
Evenly in her bed, unaware.

The monster slipped her tongue,
All ten feet of it, into the window
Snaking slowly. She could almost
Taste the woman’s amniotic fluid,
Ever so sweet and pungent.

Then, a few minutes later, the
Aswang flew silently away,
Sated, satisfied, full of new life.
The next morning, a miscarriage,
Everyone would call it, so sad.

The aswang then turned back into
An ordinary woman, living her
Safe, uneventful life in plain sight: a
Tame girl hardly anyone noticed. But
Every night she was a fierce hunter.

—Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]


I don't know if you noticed that each stanza above is an acrostic, where the first letters in the five lines spell out "taste." I have just finished a novel-in-poems about an aswang couple, where the woman is a manananngal like the monster in this poem, and the man is a weredog. Many of the poems in the book have appeared in the blog over the last few Aprils. Wish me luck: the book is out, looking for a publisher.


Alan's poem today is equally scary! But in a different way. :-D

Medicine

When we were barefoot summers long,
our mother got prescriptions just
for prophylactic use—we took
“worm medicine” for months. Its taste
was artificial cherry—red
as plastic, awful stuff—I’d drink
glasses of water just to wash
it down. Our mother’s love could force
us kids to face our fears once she
could corner us inside the house.

—Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]

Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks!

Ingat, everyone.   


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1 comment:

Bruce Niedt said...

Vince: Clever device in your aswang poem. And I'm glad you finished your poem/novel - can't wait to read it. Good luck with publication. Alan: was just having a convedrsation this morning with another parent at the school bus stop. He heard on a podcast that many people in the South are less susceptible to pollen allergies because there's a parasitic worm (hornworm?) that can be picked up on bare feet in the summertime, and if you have the worm your system is too busy fighting it to worry about pollen. Don't know how much of that is truth and how much is B.S., but it was an interesting coincidence with your poem, which I also enjoyed. Mine today was more humorous than scary.




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