Isabella Borgeson

on leaving

I hear crying again & my mama reminds me

it’s the wind  I am always leaving somewhere

‍

I return & baby cousins are new people

with tree limbs & boyfriend mouths

‍

the river fills with everything I miss –

gem-gem’s prom dress

‍

aunti geline’s flooded living room

my chickens buried in salt

‍

after the last typhoon      how dare I call

home what was never really mine? 

‍

how dare I miss the sea & not sit

for my mama’s stories?

‍

what has a poem ever done but take

me further away from my family?

‍

what Waray will I remember

if not written into song? I silence

‍

my WhatsApp while waiting at the terminal

I can’t hear under the next wave coming

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