The Visayan urban myth of Maria Labo goes like this: In another country, an Overseas Filipina Worker (OFW) is gang-raped by a group of men. She survives by turning into the flying half-woman-half-demon, Tiktik. Newly transformed, she rides the sea to return home…only to consume her children, get hacked in the face by her husband, and, eventually, be witch-hunted out of her community.

Maria, I want to teach you how to swim. You, a Filipina Megan Fox straight out of
Jennifer’s Body, rising out of the water to consume all the men who dared to call you half-

human. We’ll call it
a rebirth. A comeback.

I want to watch your wet black hair flick like a whip pinching the air
into submission. Celebrate the cloak of chlorine and salt

gathered down your spine and make my mother
squirm, cover my eyes till the scene is over, until I gently

push her fingers apart because how could I not witness
something so glorious and hideous all at once.

In middle school, she didn’t let me walk around our neighborhood block
in shorts. Showed me my cousin’s Instagram post of her in a red-striped bikini

and named all the men
who could eat me alive.

But listen, Maria, all us bikini babes are ready
for our mothers telling us to leave the sun. I want to get more

brown and covered in heat. I know it’s hot. So let’s go to that pool party
down the block. Across the Pacific. We’ll call ourselves #CaliforniaGurls

because, like you, I want to be unforgettable. Make a myth
believable. Leave boys wide-mouthed.

But since I’ve grown a woman out
of my entrails, I’m leaving my belly behind.

Took the backcountry out of my misery
to join this new vogue. I got my iPhone out. Opened up

the app. Traced all the repackaged girls until I scrolled through so many it became
a quiet performance: Me the watcher. Me the watched. Me:

Maria, the myth, the witch-hunt, the brown
woman-turned-beast.

Filmed my transformation as proof
of character development. My new look won’t wait for someone

to love her back. My body is illegible. My body is trending. My body just went
viral. Didn’t you see my legs left in the sand? They refused to swim. Told me I couldn’t

split a sea
or walk on water

but gurrl,
I can fly now.

Like you, Mother Mary’s got no
shit on me.

I took my backdoor body and made a path out
of my own want. You left your son and husband and sacrificed nothing

but your good mouth.
Your good stomach.

Once, you told me how you’ve scoffed at enough men
counting the children on your hip. So you, the original trendsetter, wore them as a fashion

statement because they weren’t worth eating. Besides, everyone looks better
leathered in their finest skin. Mine is tight enough that I might pop

out of it into this new Americana. New girlhood. New womanhood. Thanks to you, I’ve glowed
up. I’m sexy and made of fire. Like the sun. No one looks at me. No one can see me

in these layers of clothes. This new monster
of a body. So see me

later. I’m leaving for the ocean. Its reflection is the closest thing I’ll
ever get to the sky.

When I arrive,
I’ll let you know how damn

good it feels
to drown

in your own
reflection.

---

Zoe Dorado is a Filipina American poet, journalist, musician, & community organizer who is interested in the ways storytelling integrates itself into different art forms. She is a 2023 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, a 2023 National YoungArts Finalist in Spoken Word, a 2023 American Voices Nominee, & the 2023 Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam Grand Champion. In 2021, she served as the Inaugural Alameda County Youth Poet Laureate, and in 2023, was the California Youth Poet Laureate Runner-Up. Her poems live in The Offing, Bullshit Lit, her notes app, and elsewhere. You can find more of her work at zoedorado.com.