To Be Walang Hiya

Bubblegum lip gloss kissed,                Our lifelines, our mirrors, I was never a singkil princess            These are Luminous Mysteries — Knuckle cracking, polished toes,        Our notebooks, our language, I was never a Santacruzan queen      To witness, to make way, Black eyeliner, push up bra                  Our thirst and our wedding bands — I was never a curtsying debutante    To fill stone jars with water, to wed, Loud, gum-smacking babygirl             Our glamour and our armor. I was never a tiaraed Miss Fil Am     To transfigure, dazzling as the sun.