Revolt From Hymen
O to be free at last, to sleep at last
As infants sleep within the womb of rest!
To stir and stirring find no blackness vast
With passion weighted down upon the breast,
To turn the face this way and that and feel
No kisses festering on it like sores,
To be alone at last, broken the seal
That marks the flesh no better than a whore’s!
A poem written by Angela Manalang-Gloria in 1940 that continues to inspire “muted” Filipino women to claim their voices even half a century after. In every line, there’s liberation.
Unlock
If I wasn’t so numb
If I wasn’t so lost
Floating along the swirling dark clouds in the sky
I’d do anything to keep you here tonight
To keep you here forever
To have your hand in mine
And mine in yours
In a lock of pale flesh
But there is nothing more I can do
I cannot sing you the moon’s songs for sleeping children
I cannot cry you a silver lake to reflect your dreams
I cannot turn cartwheels and dance around
With a rainbow of ribbons in my hands
I cannot tear myself apart and give you what’s inside
(that’s nothing but despair, my love)
So I watch you turn
to face the door
Leaving me with a kiss I will taste forever
As your fingers
Slip away from mine
I hang my head
And a rain of hair covers my eyes
I don’t want to see you go
But you do.
Just the same.
Karen’s poems are cited to be depressingly dark but beautiful, longing for some lost soulmate. She keeps a blog called Milk and Blood at http://nazgulqueen.livejournal.com
