
Uli
by Kaya Lattimore
Image credit: Kaya Lattimore
Uli (Cebuano, v.): to go home; to restore; to reconcile; to go back; to recover
i. go home
go back to where you came from
i come from here
from the sea
the soil and the sky
from a single breath an
outstretched hand
and i am born anew
every day
ii. restore
once the ocean
was an empty basin
my hand the dipper
that filled it
i too belong to water
i too am made of salt
iii. reconcile
goodbye
is the wound i give you
the only mark
i leave behind
time will render me a scar
language becomes a stand-in
for the sun on my skin
the red i bleed
i ask god for healing
all i’m given is forgetting
iv. return
going back
implies something
to go back to
implies a place standing
still waiting
for me implies a me
still solid and whole unchanged
implies that i am not
become ghost or adult or otherwise
affected by time
v. recover
homesickness
noun. a feeling of longing for
one’s home during a period of
absence from it or
a longing to return home
prerequisite:
a place to call home that exists
outside this body,
outside this ache that makes
and remakes me
vi. go home
where is home
i have lost the threads
that bind me
the earth beneath my feet
is soft as cotton
like sweat i evaporate
Kaya Lattimore was born in Hobart, raised in the Philippines, and now lives in Canberra. As a person of mixed ethnicity, her identity has been questioned by other all her life. Kaya write to express, explore and ultimately reclaim all facets of her identity and lived experience.