Disembodied, or The Manananggal as Eldest Daughter by Selya
A poem that places a ghoul, the feared manananggal, in our daily lives.
First published in Pandan Weekly in January 2025. Content warning: body horror.
From the author:
I wrote this piece for one of the prompts for Southeast Asia Poetry Writing Month 2024. We were called to reimagine a day in the life of a local mythological creature, make it modern, cast them in a more humane light. The aswang “manananggal” became my first choice, a creature of the night who divides her torso from her lower limbs and flies off in search for prey. I began to empathize with her somehow, having thought often to just split apart my body itself (metaphorically) to fulfill all the roles I am expected to do.
I am grateful for SEAPOWRIMO; their prompts sparked one of my most prolific months as a poet. And I am humbled, truly, by the people of SEA Lit Circle, for allowing me the space to workshop this piece and meet kindred souls whose talents deserve to reach beyond just Southeast Asia.
Listen to the author read her work:
Selya is an elementary teacher, creative writing grad student, and a sporadic writer based in Manila. Recently, she self-published her first zine The City in the Girl for Better Living Through Xeroxography (BLTX), an expo advocating for small press and independent publishing. Her poem “Montage of a Once-Activist” also appeared in the August 2023 issue of The Philippines Graphic Reader.
Selya believes that Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk is the greatest manga of all time.
Instagram: @firetreesforever
Thank you for reading!
Pandan Weekly is a bi-annual zine and weekly email series produced by SEA Lit Circle, a community of writers and readers from Southeast Asia and the diaspora. At SEA Lit Circle, we inspire each other to write fresh, compelling work that’s true to ourselves, and we encourage each other to read and be more open to new works, stories, and perspectives within and beyond the region.
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