Who is the target reader of the poem agua de viuda

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Who is the target reader of the poem agua de viuda​

jasperkyl002 · Answer

Answer:   Agua de Viuda  By Jhoanna Lynn Cruz | 1 March 2018  I forgive you    for teasing me I smell good—    fragrant like a viuda.    But I have not buried my husband,    nor do I want to.       The only viuda I knew was my grandmother,    who spent her days playing cards    with the neighbors, and died    two years later of heart failure     on grandfather’s birth anniversary.    A sweet ending, some might say.    But not for me.      This scent you detect, is it    the musk of a woman wasted    on aloneness? Or the sandalwood    of a chest of secrets opened?    Or is it the essence of almonds trailing    after a promise unfulfilled?    Perhaps it is the burst    of jasmine on a night    spent dwelling on a mistake;    the spray of freesias on a day    drained wishing for something back;    the nip and sting of orange peels    while pondering revenge.      I would have you know    the old meaning of “widow”    in Sanskrit is “vidhwa,” solitary,    and elsewhere “separated”    eating only boiled rice    but not bereft,    and no bereavement,    treading on grief like the wife of Bath    wearing red silk stockings    on a pilgrimage.    In this manner it could be true    I am a widow    seeking to be shriven of my foolishness    yet holding fast to the hope of another    chance, a life flaming anew    with the fragrance of sanggumay,    those wild orchids that bloom    only when all its leaves have fallen.             This poem first appeared in Dagmay Literary Folio, Sun.Star Davao. June 26, 2016      This entry was posted in 85: PHILIPPINES and tagged Jhoanna Lynn Cruz. Bookmark the permalink.  Jhoanna Lynn Cruz wrote the first sole-author anthology of lesbian-themed stories in the Philippines, Women Loving (2010), which is available as an eBook entitled Women on Fire. In 2011, The Road Map Series published her poetry chapbook Heartwood. Her latest work has been included in the New Asia Now issue of the Griffith Review. She maintains a weekly opinion column, Lugar Lang, in Mindanao Times. She has won the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Literary Award for the full-length play and for the essay in English. She teaches creative writing at the University of the Philippines Mindanao in Davao City, and is currently doing an offshore PhD in RMIT University, Australia.

Agua de Viuda

By Jhoanna Lynn Cruz | 1 March 2018

I forgive you

for teasing me I smell good—

fragrant like a viuda.

But I have not buried my husband,

nor do I want to.

The only viuda I knew was my grandmother,

who spent her days playing cards

with the neighbors, and died

two years later of heart failure

on grandfather’s birth anniversary.

A sweet ending, some might say.

But not for me.

This scent you detect, is it

the musk of a woman wasted

on aloneness? Or the sandalwood

of a chest of secrets opened?

Or is it the essence of almonds trailing

after a promise unfulfilled?

Perhaps it is the burst

of jasmine on a night

spent dwelling on a mistake;

the spray of freesias on a day

drained wishing for something back;

the nip and sting of orange peels

while pondering revenge.

I would have you know

the old meaning of “widow”

in Sanskrit is “vidhwa,” solitary,

and elsewhere “separated”

eating only boiled rice

but not bereft,

and no bereavement,

treading on grief like the wife of Bath

wearing red silk stockings

on a pilgrimage.

In this manner it could be true

I am a widow

seeking to be shriven of my foolishness

yet holding fast to the hope of another

chance, a life flaming anew

with the fragrance of sanggumay,

those wild orchids that bloom

only when all its leaves have fallen.

This poem first appeared in Dagmay Literary Folio, Sun.Star Davao. June 26, 2016

This entry was posted in 85: PHILIPPINES and tagged Jhoanna Lynn Cruz. Bookmark the permalink.

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