ARTIST STATEMENT
I had countless encounters with death, and these experiences took time to articulate. However, when I read “When people say ‘we have made it through worse before’” by Clint Smith, I suddenly had this idea for a poem. Death is a transition that is often feared; however, there are people who have transcended this terror through meditation. I used to be worried and fearful of the whole notion, but after some time, I articulated it in writing about the journey from one existence to another—how death actually pervades the living in different forms.
PRAISE
This poem is right up my alley in terms of the things I write about, so it is particularly salient by virtue of its metaphysical focus. There are a lot of weighty symbols used: the lily, a bird, and many others that can ignite various interpretations. For me, this is a desirable and inclusive trait to have in poems. Of course, I’m a fan of the fact that it is a quite literal approach to the prompt, but also, it is brief and to the point, as the prompt calls for. This is a very strong poem!
—Lyrical Lunacy
“Flow” responds to The Sudden Death prompt by Lyrical Lunacy.
Content warning: Death
Flow
There is a bird that sings a tune in the suburbs
of my city and every time I hear it, I picture
an unmarked grave with a lily, un-blossomed
and white, growing out of it. As I gaze at people
thrusting their feet in the sand for another image
on Instagram, I remember those who had nothing
but silence in hospital beds too small to contain
grief. They have surrendered to the white
spaces, gasping for heaven. People whose
last wish was to embrace their partners
as death did them part. Who were unaware
they already left their final good night. There
is no cure strong enough to return
the past. No study funded generously to raise up
those who have gone. They might stick around
to see if we become Goddess yet most of them are
already birds dropping bombs on windshields or cats
meowing at doors for second dinner. They may be
sand stuck in the nails of our feet. If they are
willing, they blossom into a lily, each petal, a being.
Julienne Maui Castelo Mangawang is a soul experiencing life. She is studying for her MA in Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines – Diliman. Her poems are in TLDTD Issue 6, 聲韻詩刊 Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine Issue 50, The Rumpus’ ENOUGH section, Cordite Poetry Review Issue 104: KIN, The Rising Phoenix Review, Novice Magazine Issue 04 and other spaces. You may find her teaching, connecting with plants, helping out at healing spaces, and raising the planet’s collective vibration. She loves drinking cacao. Find her at t.hempressm on IG.