Lumad – native or indigenous
“…news here …signifies little
but to say that something comes” ~ D. Bonta
This means to know
a chant for putting in the seed
a liniment for aching bones
This means to sew
a constellation of beads on dark woven ground
an intricate braid of horsehair for a collar
This means to coax
a lash of fibers stripped by hand from reeds
a rope to fix broad screens of leaves to house posts
This means to hum
a low supplication when crossing the plains
a prayer to ward off the evil ones and hurricanes
This means
a ritual for the birth of the child
a sacrifice of animals for the ones who have died (so many)
This means
a lake in the hinterland bordered by plantations
among them Dole Del Monte Unifrutti Sumifro
This means
a harvest of riches they’re told they do not own
a tube of sugarcane Cavendish bananas palm oil cacao rubber
This means
among the rare flora and fauna at daybreak
a priestess touches her forehead to the water and the earth
This means
a palm criss-crossed by marks and the labor of years
a child’s hand leathered like an ancient’s
This means
a type of plant whose flowers open their throats only at night
and the song of a mythical bird that could turn you to stone
This means
a stranger crossing into their villages eats of their food
and in this way wears their mantle of protection
This means
a five-note warble high in the trees
another one for coming danger
This means
a space grows wider every day from constant erasure
a memory collapses from its magnitude when there are no vessels left
In response to Via Negativa: In Cuba.