Inspired by Hokusai’s The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife (1814)
She yearns for the sun
to hold its breath
and brace the current
above the sea floor
where kelp is a long strand of hair
lurching in the great depth of briny waters
she deems unforgiving like sweat
when dusk reaches oblivion
she dreams of shore and coastal sand
thereafter the tides and their sea foams
then the fishes over the reefs
then the sea grass on the sea bed
she remembers what was taken
yet she dreams of mollusks and shells
like a clam to its pearl
or a barnacle to the anchor
the waves take the form of an octopus
which tickles the heart of her own pacific
like how a touch is to the skin
the gold is to the chest
the gust is to the monsoon
and the blue is to the ocean.
John Mark G. Parlingayan is from Polomolok, South Cotabato. His works have appeared in Sulat Sox, Cotabato Literary Journal, Anak Sastra, KITAAB International, Philippine Daily Inquirer, and the Philippines Graphic Reader. He was a recipient of the Graphic Salute Award at the recently held 2026 Nick Joaquin Literary Awards. A finalist also in the 2022 Blue-White Dot Short Story Prize, his short fiction, “The Thumb Sucker,” was included in the anthology The Pathbreakers and Other Stories, published in Malaysia.