for Heherson Alvarez (16 Oct 1939 – 20 Apr 2020)
————
n. an identity, referring to the people of the Philippines
n. a doughnut-shaped chocolate-coated biscuit popular in Spain
————
Filipino,
or have you tasted me?
Not this sweet child of brown
coated with half a thousand year of colony,
but this Filipino
you have tasted,
This sweet skin of brown chocolate
huddled together inside a vending machine.Filipino,
or have you smelled me?
Not my cologne blossoming a clove
of spice, but had since been perfumed with colony,
but this Filipino
you have smelled,
You smell the biscuit baked from
stolen spices, where it used to be my country.Filipino,
or are you talking to me?
Not the salt screaming as a rising out of me
while my feet blister bowing asparagus in El Dorado,
but this Filipino
you are talking to,
This halo orbiting around your mouth
with Midas touch on jawbreaker forming as my head.Filipino,
but why so shocked?
Not that The Baptist’s severed head reminded
me of your severe tongue chewing my umbilical history,
but this Filipino
that had shocked you,
That when you chew the ring until it halves
a moon, underneath the body of brown had a flesh of white.Filipino,
or have you ever seen me?
Not this body you named after
a King to relieve your future Francoed body,
but this Filipino
you have seen,
a biscuit you have named after
my body, relieving the ghost of Franco’s body.Filipino,
or do you even know me?
Not this body coated with history
upon history of perfumed colonial drowning,
but this Filipino
you have known ever since,
This body coated with history upon
history of a poison you have since yet to swallow.Filipino,
or have you touched me?
Not this sharp sandpaper skin that blunted
your swords drawing lines on our sand long ago,
but this Filipino
you have touched,
This smooth coat of brown biscuit grieving
relief to the belly of your Franco-colonized body.Filipino,
or have I eaten a Filipino before?
Not the Filipino body encased in this plastic casket,
but the Filipino of my body, and yes I have,
I, Filipino of my flesh
on flesh, bone on bone,
I, cannibal of my body, and I will eat
me now, I starve, I eat me now, again I starve.
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones