Various Poems

6. retrograde_flicker

Me and my brother were so young that we didn't knew that VHS tapes aren't building blocks
Mom always scolds us for being such reckless brats
Dad always defends us with his lisp vows
And their pedantic stories when they were young
It's been six years since they died
Now I'm in the attic where all our memories hide.

Cobwebs manifested the room, this place is where we thought is doom
The dark place that has ad hominem homonyms
A homage to our old home
The mimesis of our family heirloom
Movies that they've made together 'bout apartheid and their insults like "coons"
I'm sad that fighting racial equality is still a taboo
Insults feels like being pierced by a harpoon.

Racial injustice resurrects itself through racist hypocrites
I hope that racism will never be a hieroglyphic that the future generation will encrypt.

He has to leave the country and skipped the death anniversary
Brother, safe travels and send my regards to your wife
Me and my boyfriend will take care of our old home and it will sooner be a beautiful sight
This letter is stamped and addressed to your mailbox in Hawaii.

Now it's me and you baby, let's unfold these boxes and tell you the stories of my childhood
Our children will play in the backyard and we'll take lessons from my parents 'bout parenthood
I'm thankful to same sex union, 'cause we can have kids and play with other children in the neighborhood
And have three meals together and eat the nutritious food just like they should.

As we browse through the boxes, you found a VHS tape that we've been playing with before
Good thing the player is still working and the movie that I've been bragging is now showing
But it's not entitled 'bird's eye view' like it's supposed to be
'Cloud 9' was written on its side and curiosity is bothering me
I played it and it stared two familiar faces
It's Mom and Dad and the videos they recorded since we were young.

The childhood memories are like a retrograde flicker
Our mischievous and renegade laughter
The unisex bibs and the white baby crib
Good thing I wasn't born with homophobic parents
Their midnight kisses on the forehead is all I'll ever live
Flickers their love story of how they met, in the country right in this very place
Their eternal love paved the way to two children, Richardson and Phelps.

The kids climbed up the ladder and hugged us tight
Amazona, Win and Bright
The trinity of my happiness and my husband that will forever be mine
Such a beautiful sight in this nostalgic house, we'll celebrate this moving day with wine.

Now I understand why it's called cloud 9
It's chaotic for sure but marriage is a rollercoaster ride and there's more to show
Like how proud of you to your children and you can call your husband 'mine'
The retrograde flicker makes me more appreciative to life
There's more to uncover now that I found my cloud 9.