Filipino Boogie

By Jessica Hagedorn
Under a ceiling-high Christmas tree
I pose
          in my Japanese kimono
My mother hands me
                                      a Dale Evans cowgirl skirt
and
      baby cowgirl boots

Mommy and daddy split
No one else is home

I take some rusty scissors
                                               and cut the skirt up
             in
                little pieces

(don't give me no bullshit fringe,
Mama)

Mommy and daddy split
No one else is home

     I take my baby cowgirl boots
                                                        and flush them
                                                                                    down
                                                                           the
                                                                                     toilet
(don't hand me no bullshit fringe,
Papa)

I seen the Indian Fighter
Too many times
                              dug on Sitting Bull
                                                                before Donald Duck
In my infant dream

These warriors weaved a magic spell
           more blessed than Tinker Bell

(Kirk Douglas rubs his chin
and slays Minnehaha by the campfire)

Mommy and daddy split
There ain't no one else home

                          I climb a mango tree
                                          and wait for Mohawk drums
(Mama—World War II
is over . . . why you cryin'?)

Is this San Francisco?
Is this San Francisco?
Is this Amerika?

buy me Nestle's Crunch
                  buy me Pepsi in a can

Ladies' Home Journal
                            and Bonanza

I seen Little Joe in Tokyo
I seen Little Joe in Manila
I seen Laramie in Hong Kong
I seen Yul Brynner in San Diego
and the bloated ghost
                                       of Desi Arnaz

dancing
               in Tijuana

Rip-off synthetic ivory
                                         to send
                                                       the natives
        back home

and

               North Beach boredom
               escapes
               the barber shops

on Kearny street
                              where
                                         they spit out
                                                                red tobacco
                                                                  patiently
                     waiting
                                 in 1930s suits

and in another dream

                                       I climb a mango tree
and Saturday
                        afternoon
                                          Jack Palance
                                                                  bazookas
                                                            the krauts
and
       the YELLOW PERIL
                                             bombs
                                                         Pearl Harbor
 

Copyright Credit: Jessica Hagedorn, "Filipino Boogie" from Danger and Beauty. Copyright © 1993 by Jessica Hagedorn.  Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books, www.citylights.com.
Source: Danger and Beauty (Penguin Books, 1993)