Filipino Dream.

I Pledge Allegiance
to truth
to the United States of
the Philippines
And to the Republic
that sends its own people to debt and other nations to death
One Nation
Under Jesus Christ
Indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for All.

For all,
With liberty + Justice For All.

I'm not pledging to a falsified flag
but to a state of identity that is bonafide, sad
The AMERICAN DREAM isn't in plain text
like those black and white Mark Ecko crewnecks
It Isn't about
staying silent in the face of oppression
+ guessing when you should alrady know your ancestors' lessons
The 'American Dream'?,
poses irrelevant schemes
on the hunt to kill an honest person's dreams

we've grown MUCH too accustomed to
European history + Majority history that
my own personal + Filipino history
has appeared to my eyes faceless like an unfinished mannequin,
clouded in mystery
So brainwashed in history that i've forgotten about her story
so now it's my turn to shed tears for my motherland
tears drop to the oceans distancing me from my people lacking an upper hand

I SEE
my Lola slipping $20 bills into my pocket,
myself fronting like I know my own native tongue but
I don't got it

I SMELL + TASTE
my mother cooking synagong slowly on a sunday morning from scraps and,
delicious lumpia patiently wrapped and,
i can taste the refreshingly cold halo-halo my Lola taught my Nanai how to make during excessively hot summers,
when room temperature tap water and nonexistent ice cubes were a real bummer

I FEEL
my father's frustrations
working 7 days a week, the utmost patience
putting out maximum effort for barely the minimum wage
i feel his rage, like a gorilla locked inside of a small cage

I HEAR
my Filipino Anthem
" Alab ng puso,
Sa dibdib mo'y buhay"
brilliantly harmonic voices and narratives spoken
from the veteranos that go through their post-traumatic stress on the daily

it's the Essence
of my ancestors blessings
whispering lessons
in dialects unknown, leaving me in question
whether it was meant to be because without the mystery,
i wouldn't be questing
cycle never ending, i need to find out for me
what it means to deserve this filipino identity
from this ground i stand on to the future stages that i'll stand on
i'll stand strong with my heritage for future generations to hand on.