Uy, kumusta? I’ve brought the lechon, like you asked.
Glazed in soy sauce, garlic, and Sprite— the way Lola taught me.

Are we going to be eating kamayan style? It’s cheaper that way, ha!
No spending money on silverware, less dishes to clean. Uy?

I haven’t been able to speak my mother tongue tagolog, lately.
Hopefully I will tonight, when we are all together again.
But this lechon— it’s delectable. We will be too busy stuffing our faces,
There is no time to speak!

The belly was cleaned with thick salt, rubbed it down with my own hands.
Lemongrass, garlic, and bay leaves have replaced the innards.
I skewered it with a bamboo stick, because it’s more authentic. Uy?

Yesterday my neighbors asked me to speak my foreign language,
because I have an accent.
We were playing a game where they had to guess where I’m from,
however, when I went to speak tagolog, only English spilled from my mouth.
It tasted rotten, like spoiled balut or uncooked Soup No. 5. Unnatural.

Anyways, Lola showed me how to spit roast the pig, it nearly took me all day.
She once told me: You will know when it’s cooked perfectly because the tender meat—
it melts in your mouth,
like words stuck on the tip of your tongue, that you can’t quite remember.

Bradey Resulta is a writer based in Green Bay. In 2020 she graduated from Marian University with a BA in Writing and can now be found teaching high school students—or reading in her 'big orange chair'. Prior publications can be found in Bramble Literary Magazine and Portage Magazine.