"Origin Story (a cento)", Rodrigo Dela Pena, Jr.
I was born, & now,
I am making up
for loss by making
things up. I awake
as a face. I eat my words
for breakfast again.
I'm growing my wisdom
teeth. I wait for hours
only to hear that my bones
are burning out. I try
not to aspire. I want
everything not meant to be.
But I digress. I’m an expert
in this ancient language.
I cook rhymes. I shudder
in b minor. I forget
if I turned off the kitchen
light. I hug myself as I crawl
into bed. I dream of the end
of the world in fire and dust.
I like my endings
ribboned. I empty
my remains in a landfill.
Author’s note: Source texts are poems from SPWM (mostly from 2021): Min Lim, "The Anomaly"; Aaric Chen/Xiang Yeow, Untitled; Laura Therese Tan, "Spoiled Milk"; Andrea Law, "Not the fairest of them all"; Ally Chua, "clean living"; Janice Heng, "The Safe Dreams are the Impossible Ones"; Lune Loh, "It's Not That I Don't Want You"; Chiang Yan Li, Untitled; Sophia Huang, Untitled; Rolinda Onates Espanola, "Not an Ending"; Choong Zheng Yang, "post-you"; Benzie Dio, "3. kitchen - neurological"; Jiawen Lin, "Routine"; Elizabeth Fong, "Cassandra"; Ang Shuang, "Manifesto of Falling"; Miguel Barretto García, "my not"