By Hector Z. Kawig
Poetry

When I was young my uncle brought me to a far village
We walked in confusing streets as if we were playing in a maze
I thought we were lost in the crowd as it dominated my sight
The people here are eating leaves and spitting blood
So I have to grip my uncle’s hands as we walked so fast

Here their eyes are on my pale crooked feet
In their shiny coated red teeth! it matches the street
Covered with bloody paint all over the pavements!
Almost all were red like my uncle’s blood about to pour-
out of patience asking where is that damned house?

But we made it before the night and longed for a repose
We are in the village’s topmost cold wooden house
But it was warm with our thick inabbel blankets
And they offered us warm tapuey and pinikpikan
That made our eyes drooping and our slumber snoring

In the morning we woke up and drank dark brewed coffee
And they talked all day while I played with a dog
This dog is smelly and thin, scratches its head all the time
But his loyalty is as loyal as my dogs in Europe
But at noon, they punctured the dog’s nose with barbwire

They cooked him together with ginger, sayote, and gin
The head is buried in a soft soil near the swamp
And like a magician’s trick the dog was wholly consumed
By the length of the night, they cheered and bragged
And I was left confused refusing the served dinner

“I want to go home” I exclaimed first thing in the morning
But I have to be uncomplaining and wait for my grandfather
So he arrived in the afternoon with a pipe and three chickens
He puffed smoke in my face while he stares at my feet
And made an approving gesture at my uncle with hang-over

So they butchered the chickens while there chants an old woman
Then some women chanted too that made thick clouds descend
After that they gathered around to see the dead chicken’s anatomy
Then they rejoiced and grabbed me hastily towards the center
And my grandfather massaged the chicken’s lard on my feet

We went home after, riding a bus and aboard a big airplane
It was a long and weary journey but still I feel rejuvenated
And the day we arrived at home a new world is about to begin
Now I can play and meet new friends in our large community
Running faster and farther to show the world who I am.