CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Visit waxpoetryart.com to explore poetry
(including haiku
and spoken word),
visual art,
photography,
play,
and fiction
submission opportunities.
Experience the thrills of the Weekly Poems Contest.
--
January 15th, 2026
by Shania S. Lucyao
You have felt the warmth of women's hands planting seeds,
Heard the light stamp of children's feet learning to walk.
You watched the chicks break free from their shells,
Smelled the flowers swaying in your breast.
But you have also heard the crack of gunfire,
The scream of chainsaws tearing through your bones.
You've carried the weight of grinding wheels,
Inhaled the smoke of fallen forests,
And tasted the warm blood of my ancestors.
O' land,
You who remember everything,
Tell me,
What did their blood taste like?
Note on Community Membership
I am an Igorot from the northern mountains of the Cordilleras, born of the Ibaloy and Kankanaey peoples.
I carry the blood of a resilient community rooted in the land – land that is not just soil, but life itself.
Yet that life is being severed from us.
Colonization fractured our connection to our ancestral grounds, and now, foreign corporations
continue the assault – exploiting our resources, desecrating our heritage, and threatening our future.
Our land is under siege, and with it, our identity.
About the Poet
Shania S. Lucyao resides in Gumatdang, Benguet, Philippines.
Read the poet's biography and Wax Poetry and Art publications
on Shania S. Lucyao's Artist Page.
This poem is collected in Poetry World #14, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
Keywords: Igorot, Cordilleras, heritage, seige, identity
Previously published in First Nations Poetry Magazine:
I Heard the Horses
by Mariah Srygler
First Nations Poetry Magazine is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
- Visit the main Wax Poetry and Art Submissions Page to see all opportunities.
- Visit the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
- This website and all contents ©Kirk Ramdath and specified artists.
- AI Training is not permitted on this website.
(Advertisements)