Mother Tongue
by Elmer Omar Bascos Pizo
a. Thinking you could purge-out once and for all
the f-words, the s-words, and other demonic
words dwelling free of rent inside your 4-year-old's
mouth, "stick-out your tongue," you commanded,
"and hold it still for the duration of the procedure."
b. Scooping-out with a baby's spoon the paste of ripe
chilies you just ground in a stone-carved mortar,
you spread it the way you often did with guava jelly
on your toasted bread: Thickly over that petrified
tongue.
c. At almost the same moment, the stored-up saliva
overflowed from the sides of his mouth coating
generously the back and the palm of your left hand
steadying that jerking chin. "'Tang Ina!" You yelled
in disgust.
