Tanaga: After Katy de la Cruz

For former Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III

Ocean-born, I was always

bound to come home to a

sea that has no memory

of me save for my stars, long-

lived and feather-like. So close

to the coastline, I hear sounds

as they move just above the

water’s surface. The rare glide

upward, the slide and swing, the

extra note. Balut, penoy,

balut! Bil—¹ I hear your heart-

beat this far from your shore. What

we saved at the water’s edge

we also left behind, had

hoped to endure—cone shells, red

corallines, O love of mine.

^{¹ Line from “Balut,” lyrics by Jerry Brandy in the 1930s and performed by Katy de la Cruz.}

Notes:

Tanaga is an Indigenous Filipino poetry form. This poem appeared in our July/August 2021 issue with three other tanagas by JoAnn Balingit, Sofia M. Starnes, and Luisa A. Igloria.

Source: Poetry (July/August 2021)