Karen Marie Maliwat Villa – Poetry

Six Haiku

Her hips turn violet
in the thunderous beating,
roundness cracks her throat.

Saline covered prunes,
our bruised nectarines, gaping.
Bottoms switch. Eyes closed.

Bed whines from distress
crushed lingerie makes blisters,
weeps honey plum wine.

Walls wince and cry out,
knuckles clutch velvet pillows,
frantic pray’r aligns.

Pomegranates hit.
Mouth suckles sacred, swollen
sip engorged lilac.

Toes and ovals rest,
return from the peeling night,
blood, a spiced cognac.

Karen Marie Maliwat Villa is a queer second-generation Pinay from Oxnard, California. She is Kampangpangan and Ilocano of the provinces of Tarlac, Tarlac and Victoria, Laguna in the Philippines. She received her B.A. in Asian American Studies from UC Berkeley and is currently an M.A. Candidate in Sociology. Her research includes race, gender, sexuality, and visual methodologies in Southern California communities. She was awarded the 2014 Manuel G. Flores Prize Scholarship from Philippine American Writers and Artists and has received generous support from  CSU Summer Arts. She is involved with community-based work for social justice and equality for queer APIs/woc/qtpoc and writes as a process of decolonization. Twitter @kappuccina22.

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