They say one of the neighbors is an aswang–
a flesh-eater, ghoulish shapeshifter,
that single mother of two.
But she is no monster,
only a creature of the night.
Every day, she wishes her body
split in two– Her arms and legs to
man graveyard shifts,
her face torso to wait
in the shadows next to streetlights,
in search not of prey,
but generous predators.
And she prays that what is left of her,
even if just her fingertips, could tuck
three young souls into bed.
They believed the lady from down
the street deserved her fate.
She lost her baby that night,
but they say they saw no child.
It is said that what came out her womb
was a tiyanak– hellspawn the fruit
of an alleged scandalous affair.
But neither the woman nor her husband spoke
of such a demon, such a curse.
They did not speak much at all
when we watched them bury their seed.
They say the proud boy was possessed
by Satan himself when he spoke his truth.
His parents knelt and wept
as they begged the priest to work
his divinity on their son’s soft flesh.
They cheered when they took him away
for a month to a camp, a spot next town,
to what they called ‘salvation’.
Now, they say he’s fixed, healed,
saved.
In this town, rumors are more often
more important than the truth.
What curse, what madness will they claim
came over me?
What monster will they make of me?