AUBADE, AN AIRPORT & THE SEAS
— For Kaori
I reach for you
as though for the mugicha
we drank
at a seashore
teahouse in Kamakura
while you sit
on a metal bench
losing your voice
in separate
spaces with a brown hand
a border agent tugs
the pen holder with a tarsier
perched on a palm tree
from your suitcase
didn’t you know
you’re not allowed
unaware
I bought it for you in Bohol
on a low tide sandbar
where we tasted salty sea
urchins from spiny shells
cracked in half
by a sunned boy
who seemed to emerge
straight from the sea
reminding you of a folktale
about a young fisherman & a sea turtle
as fractures mature us
I wish for waves
to come
come
crashing at the airport
to submerge & claim us another
border
agent who could have been
your sister tells us you need to leave
that you have no right
to be here go back
to the land of daybreak
across the seas
where we were born
without me
Author’s Bio
Marc Perez is a Filipino writer and author of the chapbook, Borderlands (Anstruther Press, 2020). His fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in CV2, PRISM international, TAYO, and Ricepaper. Recipient of an Honorable Mention in 2019 Lush Triumphant Literary Awards, he’s pursuing a BFA in Creative Writing at UBC.
