Traveler | Heather Sommer (and a request)
Your first time out of the country
of your own skin, I didn’t bring a map.
You always hated that I’d been lucky
enough to pick my way through streets
I couldn’t pronounce to find cathedrals,
graveyards. If you were a city, you said,
I’d only like to know your suburbs.
If you were a city, I said, I’d like to know
your poor neighborhoods, your inner parts.
Read your graffiti. Drink your tap water.
Feel your smog and dirt stick to my sweat.
Hear your orchestra of sirens and gunshots.
I’d know which of your streets to walk.
If you were a city, I’d expect to be robbed.
---
I'm leaving for Singapore tomorrow evening and staying there for 2-3 weeks, and it's my first time to travel out of the Philippines. I'm used to travelling alone but it's always been within the islands, so i'll definitely be out of my comfort zone on this one in more ways than one. Also, although the trip involves sightseeing and experiencing the culture, the main reason I'm going to SG is to visit my boyfriend (who is Irish-American) and this will be our little experiment to see if I'm suited for the place, or if it'll be better if he moves to Manila (he's visited me lots of times here so it's my turn to return the favor), or if we're even compatible living together at all. So there is a lot of things going on in this trip and I'm super excited and happy but fucking terrified as well. Would like to have some poems to read on the plane ride to calm my nerves...your suggestions will do my sanity a whole lot of good! :) Thanks, guys!
of your own skin, I didn’t bring a map.
You always hated that I’d been lucky
enough to pick my way through streets
I couldn’t pronounce to find cathedrals,
graveyards. If you were a city, you said,
I’d only like to know your suburbs.
If you were a city, I said, I’d like to know
your poor neighborhoods, your inner parts.
Read your graffiti. Drink your tap water.
Feel your smog and dirt stick to my sweat.
Hear your orchestra of sirens and gunshots.
I’d know which of your streets to walk.
If you were a city, I’d expect to be robbed.
---
I'm leaving for Singapore tomorrow evening and staying there for 2-3 weeks, and it's my first time to travel out of the Philippines. I'm used to travelling alone but it's always been within the islands, so i'll definitely be out of my comfort zone on this one in more ways than one. Also, although the trip involves sightseeing and experiencing the culture, the main reason I'm going to SG is to visit my boyfriend (who is Irish-American) and this will be our little experiment to see if I'm suited for the place, or if it'll be better if he moves to Manila (he's visited me lots of times here so it's my turn to return the favor), or if we're even compatible living together at all. So there is a lot of things going on in this trip and I'm super excited and happy but fucking terrified as well. Would like to have some poems to read on the plane ride to calm my nerves...your suggestions will do my sanity a whole lot of good! :) Thanks, guys!