I was always given ginger to hide
inside my clothes. It’s to prevent
the effects of tuyáw. Many plants
resemble human features. When many
people give you a lot of attention,
you get sick. If the dungánspirit, strength of character, charmisa is strong
then you’ll be fine. Lola was distraught
when I would not get
well from diarrhea and full
body rashes. After the 1990 Luzon
earthquake, I recovered.
When the body sleeps, the
dungán leaves the body.
If it’s hungry enough
it enters the rice
cooker and gets stuck there.
I have left open several
rice cookers. One by the TV
we no longer need, one
at the altar, one at the front
of the modem, one on top
of a placard that says never
again, one by the atlas
of the night sky.
Naga dungán-dúngan
and mga kalág natun.
Our souls go together
In death or illness, they’re said
to unravel. I have more
of these: one in video
essay, one on Facebook, 夜night,
人魂hitogami, one for each
song burned on a CD, one as
manager, one for the left
and right of the stereo channel,
one neurogender, one
agí, one XジェンダーX-gender,
one for my parents, none for my great
grandparents, one that would
have been calculating blackout
windows, one left
behind in the 2011
house, one haunting
a diary if I wrote any, one
I hid away from the gods.