^{Deb Haaland, a member of New Mexico's Laguna Pueblo, has become the first Native American Cabinet Secretary of the Interior in U.S. history. NPR News 3.15.2021}

^{When she testified in February at her confirmation hearing, Haaland began her opening remarks by introducing herself to senators in her tribal language of Keresan.  CBS NEW 3.18.2021}

At this very point in time 
was the word. 
And the word was, 
that the language of my parents 
had died.

remnants of wars and insurrections    land acquisition

contestations of tribal assertion through     statistical attempts to nationalize consolidation 
evolution and adoption     of one language    over others

tightly   gripped    media 
facebooking the primary mode    of communication as if

a thousand cuts    of the fake news     breaking up 
hand-held computer devices     with slow and intermittent Wi-Fi

vinyl bright 60-foot political banners of the current valoric regime 
versus      flagging opposition

arriving by plane, SUV, bus, chrome plated jeepney, 
tri-cycles, on foot     slowing at each barangay     through the provinces

a five hour trip becomes ten hours     driving

a narrow path 
between the sun dried 
palay on concrete.

Here in this time and place 
was the word. 
And the word was with 9 million native speakers along the western coastal regions 
of the island of Luzon…

…and the countries 
to which they have migrated…

squatting Baroque church and its colonial motifs in brown adobe stone

exactly    as my mother had described 
school in her third tongue,

            Anako, this is where we learned English.

And the word was with her. 
And the word 
presides     over the rice fields     grasshopper green 
to earthen brown         bulul spirits    monolithic in myth

and the word gives atang to the 
patience           of our unrelenting ancestors

And the word was silent

and the word was word-of-mouth 
and the word was hand-to-mouth 
and the word was disseminated from village to barangay to town to city 
and the word was blood 
and the word was atrocity 
and the word was genocide 
and the word was rape 
and the word was shame 
and the word was sorrow 
and the word was hunger 
and the word was guilt 
and the word was depression 
and the word was survival

and the word    is    in my DNA

nocturnal YouTube    tutorial    insomniac 
losing linguistic heritage at the rate of 26 languages    each year—

one language    lost every two weeks

ampay? / why? 
 bakit?  / why?

as Haryette sleeps with the dictionary, 
Myung Mi enunciates the sound of the phoneme    ng

wen ngarud / yes, indeed 
oo nga / yes, indeed

and the word    is    within    us.