"Now Before Names" by Maria Bolaños

Image Credit: Mohamed Nohassi, obtained and licensed through Unsplash

Now Before Names

After Gwendolyn, after Terrance, after Joy.

we real cool. we swing our arms to show off each rubber band, colors jangle on our wrists. we
know what we want we can get for a clap and a song, tatay gusto ko’ng tinapay, we sing
or we chase the taho man. the sun pulls oceans out our skin, bodies of water and asin
make nanay pinch her lips, pa kiss-kiss naman. she stuffs towels down our shirts and we
dance away, we full-fledged gravity defiers, masked heroes and bandits flying to the thin
green edge that jungles up at the end of the kalye, past always-parked cars marking the origin
of species, where all creatures of the earth are frogs and ants and spiders and dragonflies and we
are bony elbows and muddy knees, limbs stretching and spiking up trees, brown feet beating jazz
and not jazz, i wasn’t american yet. now is a promised longsilog lunch, the endless ilog of june
afternoons. now is not time. now is a trumpet sprawl, is tarat tarat tarat, is tara tara na, is we.

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Maria Bolaños is a poet, book reviewer, and freelance writer. She was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was a young girl. She attended UC Berkeley and studied English Literature, Media Studies, and Creative Writing. Her work has been featured or is forthcoming on Marías at Sampaguitas, Chopsticks Alley Pinoy, and International Examiner, among other places. Maria currently lives on the unceded Gabrielino & Tongva land, Tovaangar, also known as Los Angeles, California.