Prompt: write a poem of origin
“where do i come from?”
in the silent wildness of the rainforests of the river Kinabatangan,
i ask ma.
she looks at me, bemused,
gauging my eyes to see how serious i am being
“from my stomach,” she replies,
turning around to continue searching for the baby-faced pygmy elephant
she expects to spot from the moving boat.
i see where i get my love for nature, i declare,
realising that it is because of her that the name of every plant, flower and animal worth knowing-
are common knowledge to me.
on this mother-daughter bonding trip
for the first time in a quarter century,
she begins to list everything
she claims she passed down to me:
-being there for family, no matter what
-cooking/eating for pleasure and as a form of self love
-the joy of morning walks and smiling at familiar strangers along the way
-being able to go and enjoy a film alone in the movie theatre, a tub of pop corn just for yourselF
-gratitude
the list goes on
but i find myself lost in admiration
smiling at the woman
i had pegged to be someone else
seeing her almost for the first time.
i move in to hug her
and from the corner of her eye,
she says,
she can see a pygmy elephant smiling at us.
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