by Angela Gabrielle Fabunan
We are no myth, we are not
merely fish, not simply women.
What you should keep in mind:
When you argue over our shoal,
when you trash our bay, is that
we are no myth, we are not
Yours to erase, just because
you’re in pursuit of prey.
What you should keep in mind
Is we’re not in it for your bodies,
but for bodies of water, us guardians,
we are no myth, we are not
Modest folk, we siren how
you’ve despoiled and sacked our homes.
What you should keep in mind
is that our sea is not yours to mine
not yours to claim nor to acquire.
We are no myth, we are not
Owned nor bargained nor attained.
We will do what we are forced to do.
What you should keep in mind
Is our power to summon monsters
to entice beasts to take your liver—
We are no myth, we are not
Tale, we will suck the living from you
until you are no longer male—
We are no myth, we are not…not at all…
what you should keep in mind.
© Copyright Angela Gabrielle Fabunan
Angela Gabrielle Fabunan is the author of The Sea That Beckoned (Platypus Press, 2019) and Young Enough to Play (UP Press, 2021). Her website is angelagabriellefabunan.com. She lives in Olongapo City, for now.
Read the Rest of the September Issue
- wildgirls by Cislyn Smith
- Seaside Princess by Jordan E. McNeil and Kat Weaver
- The Mermaid Speaks by Jose Luis Pablo
- Send Feet Pics by Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas
- A Stone’s Throw from You by Jenn Reese
- Mermaids of Alabama: An Environmental Assessment by Ellie Campbell
- What Do Merfolk Notice on Land? by Priya Chand
- Puffin Queen by Jordan E. McNeil and Kat Weaver
- Witnessing by Tiffany Morris
- Beyond the Blue by Yuan Changming
- Selkie’s Bones by Marisca Pichette
- Mermaid Galleon by Alex Nodopaka
- A Mermaid Reports from Okeanos by Pat Tompkins
- Water Bites Back by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu
- Freshwater Life by Anne E.G. Nydam
- Mer Crowley Angel by Arrick Corble
- the hunter by Jasmine Arch
- I Swim Up From Below by Sarah Gailey
- The Siren’s Song by Angela Gabrielle Fabunan
mermaidsmonthly.com 