Denise O’Hara
Anomalya
Kung ang ating mga katawan
ay mauuwi lamang sa pagiging teksto
na kailangang hanapan ng kahulugan
isa-isahin natin ang bawat sistemang
naglagay ng aking bisig sa tagiliran,
ang mga ngipin na sinadyang matalas
upang mangagat ng laman; isipin
natin ang proseso ng pagtibok ng puso
sabay sa pagbugso ng mapulang dugo
pagdaloy sa mga kalsadang naka-mapa
sa mga bisig patungo sa mga daliri:
ang dulo at simula: ang aking hangganan:
dito nagmula ang aking anomalya:
hindi pa man kita nilulunok
binubutas mo na ang sikmura ko.
Anomaly
If our bodies
become nothing more than texts
that we need to find meaning from
let us then look at each system
that placed my arms at my side,
teeth, intentionally kept sharp
to bite off flesh; let us think about
the process that makes the heart beat
with the forceful flow of red blood
flowing into streets mapped
into my arms, traveling down to my fingers:
the beginning and the end: my limit:
this is where the anomaly transpired:
I haven’t even begun to swallow you
And already you are burning through my gut.
(translated by the author)
Python in the Mall
mmmmmA serpent-like creature has taken residence
mmmmmin the dark recesses of a new shopping mall.
mmmmmSupposedly the offspring of the mall tycoon
mmmmmhimself, the creature feeds, by preference,
mmmmmon nubile virgins.
mmmmmmmmmm—Tabloid story
She hatched in the dank
Basements of our gullibility,
Warmed in the gasp of our telling,
Curling in the tongues
Of housewives and clerks.
We gave her a body half-serpent,
Half-voluptuary, and a taste
For maidens and movie stars
Who began to vanish mysteriously
Behind the curtains of boutique
Fitting rooms and water closets,
Never to be seen again,
Or only to be found in the parking
Cellars, wandering dazed
Into the headlights of shoppers’ cars.
How she fed on our thirst
For wonders, fattened on our fear
Of vacant places. Slowly
We embellished the patterns
On her scales and admired
The sinuous grace of her spine.
Avidly we filled our multifarious
Hungers at her belly, and lapped
The marvelous tales of her forked
Tongue. And as the gleaming temples
Of her worship rose in the midst
Of our squalor, how we trembled
At the seduction of her voice,
O what adoring victims we became.
January 23, 1993
