Did you know
you were pulot only,
picked up from the stoop
or from the fork of a tree,
out of the dumpster in
the alley, your face
scrunched up like a piece
of champoy, salted plum
candy? And did you know
your wrapper was stiff yellow
though you didn't freeze
overnight in the wind
or get eaten by wild dogs?
Lucky lucky, said the nuns
looking into the milk
carton and finding you under a pile
of rags. Suerte suerte lang---
If not for the trash
collector, if not for scissors-
grinder rapping at the gate,
if not for the maid who took
you into the kitchen where she fed you
the pap skimmed off the top
of a pot of boiling rice.