‘I Eat You Whenever I Float’ and Other Love Poems
Illustration by Sendy Santamaria.
Chloe J. Balingasa, Age 10
Attended Bessie Carmichael School
Chicken
You are as sticky as a candy and as soft as a pillow.
And that’s why you’re amazing.
You are as brown as dirt.
You smell spicy and sour.
You are as large as a house.
When I cook you, you are hissing like fire.
Oh chicken, I could eat you for millions of days.
You are sticky as a chocolate chip cookie.
You are as salty as donuts.
Oh chicken, you make me dance for a hundred hours.
Thank you for being salty and delicious.
You are crunchy, crumbly, and crispy.
You are awesome because you are salty and crunchy.
Whenever mom and grandma makes you, I feel excited.
You are happy when I put flavor on you,
flavors like ginger, salt, and vinegar.
You stretch like trees when I eat you.
You dance in my belly.
You sound crunchy like a chocolate chip cookie.
(Tagalog Version)
Ikaw ay kasing lagkit ng candy at kasing lambot ng unan.
Kaya ikaw ay kamangha-mangha.
Ikaw ay kayumanggi na parang dumi.
Ikaw ay amoy maanghang at maasim.
Ikaw ay kasing laki ng bahay.
Kapag niluto kita, ikaw ay parang nagliliyab na apoy.
Ay manok, kaya kitang kainin ng milyong-milyon na araw.
Ikaw ay malagkit na tulad ng tsokolateng cookie.
Ikaw ay maalat na parang donut.
Ay manok, pinapasayaw mo ako ng isang daang oras.
Salamat sa pagiging maalat at masarap.
Ikaw ay malutong at marupok.
Ikaw ay kamangha-mangha dahil ikaw ay maalat at malutong.
Kapag si Nanay at si Lola ang nagluto, ako ay nasasabik.
Ikaw ay sumasaya kapag binigyan kita ng pampalasa,
mga lasang tulad ng luya, asin at suka.
Ikaw ay humahaba na parang puno kapag kinakain kita.
Ikaw ay sumasayaw sa aking tiyan.
Ikaw ay kasing tunog ng lutong ng isang tsokolateng cookie.
Joshua Aguilar
Attended Bessie Carmichael School
Lumpia, the Special Food
Oh lumpia, you are so amazing that you are as juicy as a
watermelon.
You have so much stuffing that you make me full by
only eating three.
You are so crunchy that someone can hear me eating
you from a mile away.
All they hear is crunch, crunch, crunch.
Your aroma smells so good that you attract my whole
family.
You are as hot as the sun.
You are as rough as a rock.
Thank you for being so fun to cook that you help my
grandma kill some time.
I ate you in my house on Christmas Day.
My whole family loved you.
You are so hot and sizzling on my plate with rice.
My lumpia would say, “Come and eat me,” on my plate.
Oh lumpia, you have been my favorite food since I was
three.
My grandma will call me once the sizzling dish is cooked.
You give me so much energy that I can eat all the lumpia
in the world.
You are delicious, dry, and delightful.
Oh lumpia, you will always be my favorite food.
Thanks for making me full for each meal.
Oh lumpia, you are the best food because you are so
Delicious.
Maya Masagca
Attended Bessie Carmichael School
Penge ng mango at bagoong?
Oh mango ’n shrimp paste, you can be sweet or salty, and soft or crunchy.
You can be found at the nearby small Asian store, Starco.
You taste sweet and salty and smell fresh.
You sound crunchy when eaten and you feel rough sometimes.
You also have a taste that can be tasted nowhere else in the world!
You are as smelly as raw fish.
But also you are as exotic as lychee or pineapples or rambutans.
You are as cold as Santa’s reindeer’s home.
Thank you for choosing to exist in this parallel universe. My life would be boring without you.
I was at the dining table doing my homework alone.
I was stuck on my homework and was craving mango and shrimp paste.
Ready to leap on a plate
I walked to the refrigerator to get some.
When I was done eating the mangoes, my homework
felt easy.
Another time was when my friends saw that I had
mango and bagoong.
They said, “Penge?”
But when it was all done, I said, “Wala na! Tapos na! It’s
all done!”
You carry the shrimp paste on your back.
You cry, “Please don’t eat us,” and try to slip off the
mango.
But too bad, you’re too late, you’re already in my
stomach, transformed into jumbles.
I heard about you from my friends from the Philippines.
I asked my family to taste you, so my parents went to
Starco to buy shrimp paste.
When they came back home, I tasted it.
Oh mango and bagoong, you are delicious that every
time people eat you, one pound of negativity is
removed from the world!
Emory A. David-Ortega, Age 10
Attended Bessie Carmichael School
Sinigang (Filipino Soup Dish)
Oh sinigang, you make me cry for a hundred hours.
I like you because you are sour and salty.
Oh sinigang, you are as sour as Sour Patch.
Oh sinigang, you are as salty as the ocean.
You look like a pond of veggies.
You are as hot as a heater.
You are as brown as a chicken.
You bubble when we cook you.
Thank you because you are very tasty.
I like you. You are so sour.
When I eat you, I slurp you.
When I go to my grandma’s house, she says, “Do you want food?”
I say, “Yes!”
Oh sinigang, you splash your arms around when we cook you in the pot with potatoes, bok choy, and tomatoes.
Sinigang, you are the best because you are good for sickness.
I wish to float in a pool of sinigang.
I eat you whenever I float.
Whenever I smell you, I want to eat you really fast like a race car.
(Tagalog Version)
Sinigang
Hay sinigang, lagi mo akong pinapaiyak ng isang daang oras.
Gusto kita dahil ikaw ay maasim at maalat.
Hay sinigang, ikaw ay kasing asim ng Sour Patch.
Hay sinigang, ikaw ay kasing alat ng tubig dagat.
Ikaw ay parang lawa ng mga gulay.
Ikaw ay kasing init ng makina na pampainit.
Ikaw ay kasing kayumangi ng manok.
Ikaw ay bumubula kapag niluluto.
Salamat dahil ikaw ay malasa.
Gusto kita. Ikaw ay maasim.
Kapag kinain kita, ikaw ay aking sinisipsip.
Kapag ako ay namamasyal sa bahay ni lola, sabi nya “Gusto mo ba ng pagkain?”
Ang sagot ko naman ay, “Opo!”
Hay sinigang, mga braso mong nagwawagayway kapag ikaw ay niluto kasama ang mga patatas, petchay at kamatis.
Sinigang, ikaw ang pinaka magaling dahil ikaw ay maganda para sa may mga sakit.
Sana kaya kong lumutang sa dagat ng sinigang.
Kinakain kita kapag ako ay lumulutang.
Kapag ikaw ay aking nalalanghap, gusto kitang kainin ng mabilis na parang kotseng pangkarera.
