Being done without anesthesia
and having experienced it myself,
I can tell you how painful it is.
But I will not dissuade you
to undergo such ritual,
the boys' only right
rite of passage to manhood.
It's once in a lifetime, after all.
As you brave the scalpel
of Tiyo Pisyong, gleaming
radiantly in all its sharpness,
tell him to do with precision
his spitting of chewed guava leaves
unto the wound. Then take Vita-K.
It will help halt the oozing of blood.
So you can move with ease,
wear my loose t-shirts
until the laceration is healed.
Ask your Mama to dress it
with agua oxigenada every morning.
And be careful not to step on
or pass over chicken dung
so it will not swell red
like overripe tomatoes.
(Appeared in Home Life, October 2005, Page 28)
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