quarters

i am

womyn/split into quarters/one tongue cut/loving self in halves
.

hello.

have we met?

i am

wahine/my ea mud rooted /trace me in pō/fragments of moana scattered

.

aloha.

have you seen me?

i am

onna/a silent noh-daiko/Nihon buyo does not move here/ai is a foreign cage

.

kon'nichiwa

have you remembered me?

i am

mulher/um barco em uma cova/lábios touching air/are these bones not dead yet?

.

olá

have you noticed me?

i am

nǚrén/my skin is Nǎinai de gǔhuī/Wǒ de xīnzàng shǔ huǒ/laugh at this subtle breath

.

wait

have i forgotten me?/

am i forgetting me?/

have i not met my own diaspora?/

am i not noticing my own river?/

is my river dried?am i just a ship in a grave? is my heart just a flicker of a flame? if i drink my ancestor's ashes will my skin remember them?

have/ we/ met/

yet?