The Guilt After
Growing up in a conservative country that is Philippines, there are certain challenges that come with being a Catholic Filipina. No matter how much I yearn to read poems and articles that cover sensitive or “taboo” topics, I can never seem to find any that leave an impact.
I came up with the title “The Guilt After” - a poem that is of a coming-of-age story that highlights a young Catholic Filipina facing the modern world. This poem unravels how her faith constantly challenges her morals as she grows up and loses this sense of innocence. It’s not the external influences that I want to focus on, but specifically the ones she thinks independently of herself. I want to clarify that when we sin it does not mean that we have let the evil win.
The poem structure may be a little different that what you’re used to— I admit my rhyming scheme is unusual. My aim in my poetry is to portray this invisible bump where the reader must trip in my words, just as the muse of my poem has in her story. I want to reiterate how bumpy life can get and how these bumps contribute to grounding us in our reality.
