Maiana Minahal

EARS My mother’s stories wearied me so I cut off my ears. I clipped them onto the clothesline in the backyard  next to the wet socks and flapping underwear. My mother hummed herself a romantic tune at the kitchen sink. The noon sun burnt the ears. They stiffened into leathery strips of salted fish. My mother stopped speaking.       - - - - - -

Maiana Minahal (poet, interdisciplinary artist and educator) was born in Manila and raised in Los Angeles. She is the author of the poetry collection Legend Sondayo (Civil Defense Poetry, 2009). She has taught at Laney College and the University of California, Berkeley; she currently teaches at the University of Minnesota.