Mr Bear reading CB Mako’s ‘Telefono’

Comadre,    my    beloved   iho    has    an    ugly    new

girlfriend.    Que    horror!       Her     nose     so   pango,

her   skin   so   itim,      so    dark!     Why     didn't     he

pick                someone          mestiza              like       us?

And    she    is    so    short!    Pandak    and   mataba! I 

have        had        prettier      katulongs       than      her.

Hadn’t    we    already       matched      my      son      to

your   daughter,    Miya?    With      our         American

and    Spanish        bloodlines       our      future       apo

would   be    beautiful,      so    puro!   Ay,   Diyos   mio,

what     should     I    do?     They    will     have      ugly

babies.     My    apos     will    be        ugly!      I need  to

pray       a       novena     to      Nuestra      Señora      De

Guadalupe.      Please       say       a      rosary   for   your

handsome       godson.      The                     impertinent

maldita,    punyeta.        I’ve     got     to    go,  comadre.

The    block    rosary      Blessed    Virgin     Mary       is

here.           We          have             guests              coming.

Glossary

Apos – grandchildren

Ay Diyos Mio – Oh my God

Block Rosary - The Block Rosary is a devotion wherein animage or statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary visits the home of each family for aweek or so. It encourages the family to pray the Rosary everyday not only fortheir own intentions but for the intentions of the whole community.

Comadre – son’s godmother

Iho – Son/Male child

Itim – Black

Katulongs – domestic helpers

Maldita – a woman with attitude, as opposed to the stereotypically modest Filipina who’s always thinking of others ahead of herself. Possible translations in English: snob, aloof, cruel, sharp-tongued, rude, mean, bitchy,self-centered

Mataba – fat

Mestiza – female of mixed native and foreign descent.

Nuestra Señora De Guadalupe – Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a venerated image enshrined within the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City

Pandak – short in stature

Pango – a flat nose

Punyeta – profanity expressed in anger, borrowed from the Spanish word puñeta or ‘wank’

Que Horror – How awful

CB Mako is a West Writers Group member and a perpetual art student at Footscray Community Arts Centre. CB Mako has performed as an artist and panellist at the Emerging Writers Festival, Digital Writers Festival, Melbourne Fringe Festival, and Melbourne Writers Festival. Winner of the Grace Marion Wilson Emerging Writers Competition (non-fiction), CB Mako has been published in The Suburban Review, The Lifted Brow, The Victorian Writer, Pencilled In, Peril Magazine, Mascara Literary Review, Writers Victoria, Writers Bloc, Djed Press, and Wild Tongue Zine. She is @cubbieberry on Twitter and @cb.mako on Instagram.  Her website is https://mercurialmum.wordpress.com