#Poetry is the archive of our soul.
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) May 6, 2013
May 6, 2013
Quote for the day
April 12, 2013
POEM: “Salmon Run” (in 6 incomplete Tweets) #NaPoWriMo Day 12
April=#NationalPoetryMonth, writing a poem a day, some only 140 characters. My #NaPoWriMo Day 12: “SALMON RUN”… (in 6 incomplete parts)
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 13, 2013
When Mom returned from Alaska,she taught me how to skin Sockeye and Kings with her white-handled bladeshe had stolen from the cannery.
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 13, 2013
2) like a soldier with a bolo knife,Mom wielded the blade to cut the fins,flipped to the dull side to scrape the scales, ignoring the guts
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 13, 2013
3) one of the fish scales flies in her eye. she says that’s how she got that scarunder her bangs,how I shouldn’t mess around, ever…
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 13, 2013
4) Oh, I know. One morning, from behind the banister, I saw Papa tiptoe up the stairs after one-too-many beers out with who-knows-who…
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 13, 2013
5) Mom whipped out that same knife from under her pillow and Papa tripped back down the stairs. He never came home late like that again…
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 13, 2013
Working in a salmon cannery, you learn that even though those dented-white-handled knives look small, they bite stronger than Steelhead.
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 13, 2013
April 11, 2013
POEM: Mud [NaPoWriMo Day 11]
you may think her kayumanggi skinlooks like mud, but it roots centuries of warriorsbirthing a movement that digs deep beyond your soil.
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 11, 2013
April 10, 2013
POEM: Anting-Anting [NaPoWriMo Day 10]
Circles of califas,Diwata spirits, and Babaylan legendsProtect me Everywhere I go.#blessed #NaPoWriMo Day 9
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 10, 2013
I showed my class THE FILIPINO AMERICANS book by Barbara Posadas & it fell open to the page with my Mom & war bride Aunties smiling at me 🙂
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 10, 2013
April 8, 2013
POEMS + Excerpts from Miscarriage V: Lost in Translation, 2003. [NaPoWriMo Day 8]
It’s #nationalpoetrymonth #NaPoWriMo Day8: I’m Tweeting 8 or more lines from poems that I’ve written, some published or performed, some not.
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 8, 2013
10 yrs since I lost you, I weep, reminded every month by a bleeding cruel joke or by daily hugs from the miracle that followed. #NaPoWriMo
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 8, 2013
I silently wonder: where do the souls of the wanted, the unborn go? Not by choice: into their mother’s buried well of tears. #NaPoWriMo
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 8, 2013
At the bed of the river, we wove a wreath of daisies, roses and chrysanthemums, with our circle of friends chanting prayer songs. #NaPoWriMo
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 8, 2013
What lifts the spirit of the wanted unborn to the sky? A weighted crucifix pulled by the ropes of their parents’ arms, clenching? #NaPoWriMo
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 8, 2013
Who hears the cries of the unborn, weeping in my belly? The silence deafens me. #NaPoWriMo
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 8, 2013
Words unspoken fuel the scarcity of these poems, miscarried, hiding in the shadows, tearing at the stained sheets. #NaPoWriMo
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 8, 2013
Lines etched in my palms, /poems became my lifeline, /voice to outside world. #NaPoWriMo #haiku #credo
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 8, 2013
Growing up with tragedies in your family teaches you the power of words like “Kawawa Naman,” as if they truly feel sorry for you. #NaPoWriMo
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 8, 2013
You avoid telling your immigrant mother, her back bent washing others’ laundry, because you have no words to translate all that. #NaPoWriMo
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 8, 2013
Growing up #Filipino in America, you learn to record all this sh*t down in writing. To avoid schizophrenia, you become a poet. #NaPoWriMo
— Emily P. Lawsin (@emilylawsin) April 8, 2013
2003
