[Poem] No Binangkal, Penelope
I wrote this poem for lit class. Pardon me for the grammatical errors (not a native English speaker, *hides*)
Title: No Binangkal, Penelope
Author: Neerod
Notes: Written in Odysseus' point of view, as a response to the Visayan poem 'Binangkal, Penelope' by Corazon Almerino, which is about a woman telling Penelope (Odysseus' wife) that instead of weaving, she should just eat binangkal, and then throw it at Odysseus when he gets home, because he's been gone for way too long.
Binangkal is a Philippine delicacy, made of flour, milk and sugar, mashed into a small ball, coated with sesame seeds, and deep-fried to a brown. It's delicious, but it's hard to eat; it can almost take your teeth out (exaggeration).
After twenty tiring years of travel, I finally get here
And all you do is throw binangkal at me?
Woman! Where is your sense? Your man
Has braved the never-ending wrath of Poseidon for years.
Been imprisoned in a cave by a Cyclops, and nearly been made a meal of.
Heard the Sirens sing their deadly song, met a clever witch
Who turned my men into pigs. And what have you done?
You fed your suitors with my wine, my food,
While they vandalized my home, ordered my servants around,
While I, who remained faithful to you all along,
Pined day and night for the feel of your body against my own.
The sound of your voice, your soft hands clasping mine.
And with Telemachus watching all these! Oh woman,
I didn't want to come home to a shower of binangkal.
I want to come home to you. If ever I did something wrong,
I swear by the gods I didn't mean to---Ouch!
Now Penelope, put those down!
Aren't we supposed
To eat them together? [1]
---
[1] According to my teacher, binangkal can be seen as a metaphor for sufferings. So if they would eat binangkal together, Odysseus basically says that they could share their sufferings. But point it, I didn't mean to write those last two statements. It just sorta made itself.
---
I'm considering renaming my journal.
dhorz with a 'z' sucks, and then the 'h' makes it even worse. They're like those signs I see in Philippine jeepneys, like 'mhae', 'jhon', and all.... Ew.
What do you think?
Title: No Binangkal, Penelope
Author: Neerod
Notes: Written in Odysseus' point of view, as a response to the Visayan poem 'Binangkal, Penelope' by Corazon Almerino, which is about a woman telling Penelope (Odysseus' wife) that instead of weaving, she should just eat binangkal, and then throw it at Odysseus when he gets home, because he's been gone for way too long.
Binangkal is a Philippine delicacy, made of flour, milk and sugar, mashed into a small ball, coated with sesame seeds, and deep-fried to a brown. It's delicious, but it's hard to eat; it can almost take your teeth out (exaggeration).
After twenty tiring years of travel, I finally get here
And all you do is throw binangkal at me?
Woman! Where is your sense? Your man
Has braved the never-ending wrath of Poseidon for years.
Been imprisoned in a cave by a Cyclops, and nearly been made a meal of.
Heard the Sirens sing their deadly song, met a clever witch
Who turned my men into pigs. And what have you done?
You fed your suitors with my wine, my food,
While they vandalized my home, ordered my servants around,
While I, who remained faithful to you all along,
Pined day and night for the feel of your body against my own.
The sound of your voice, your soft hands clasping mine.
And with Telemachus watching all these! Oh woman,
I didn't want to come home to a shower of binangkal.
I want to come home to you. If ever I did something wrong,
I swear by the gods I didn't mean to---Ouch!
Now Penelope, put those down!
Aren't we supposed
To eat them together? [1]
---
[1] According to my teacher, binangkal can be seen as a metaphor for sufferings. So if they would eat binangkal together, Odysseus basically says that they could share their sufferings. But point it, I didn't mean to write those last two statements. It just sorta made itself.
---
I'm considering renaming my journal.
dhorz with a 'z' sucks, and then the 'h' makes it even worse. They're like those signs I see in Philippine jeepneys, like 'mhae', 'jhon', and all.... Ew.
What do you think?