Excerpts

by Theresa Sotto

William H. Taft: The Filipinos are merely in a state of Christian pupilage. They are imitative.

: parasols and plumes on nosebleed seats
stay perched
munching confections
we are soon to write slowly, deliberately
pencils poised
our teacher at the helm
her smile like pasteles sugary
decorum is gloves and arithmetic
the parallel leaning of cursive
a clear view from the rafters

William H. Taft: The government of the Philippine Islands felt
justified in expending a very large sum of money.

: every machine is a clanking web
more curious than dormant volcanoes
or the many iridescent colors of fish
i have yet to explore the agriculture building
but i’m certain my wife’s back would benefit
there must be a better way
the up down up down pluck
in the rice paddies
her spine an involuntary hinge

Theodore Roosevelt: Know that the future is ours if we have in us the manhood to grasp it and we enter the new century girding our loins for the contest before us.

: teddy was a scrawny asthmatic boy but he pushed up,
crunched, lifted
we must take diligent notes
our loins are at stake
b is for we are all boys here but someday
we hope to be
like teddy

William H. Taft: [In Mindinao there are] some very fine physical
specimens of manhood.

: willy, will you marry me?
the roads grip the mountains like leeches and the sky is
big: this land
is your land

Theodore Roosevelt: Let us see to it that, while we take advantage of every gentler and more humanizing tendency of the age, we yet preserve the iron quality which made our forefathers…fit to do the deeds they did.

: now that the fairs are over
we’re nostalgic over postcards
a Negrito line-up on the front
trench coats tossed over loin cloths
bowler hats teetering
on the back: we’re splendid
sights we wish you were
here

Theresa Sotto lives in Santa Monica. This spring she received her M.F.A. from the University of Arizona. This is her second time in print. She notes: “This poem is part of a series informed by the Philippine Reservation at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.” E-mail: theresasotto@gmail.com