Throwback Thursday: Self-Portrait
[Image Description: A black-and-white self-portrait of Lukayo wearing a baseball cap and shirt that is falling off one shoulder to reveal the strap of an under-shirt. They have long hair on one side. Half of their face has facial hair, and the other half is shaved. The drawing has the word “SELF-PORTRAIT” at the top, and their signature in English and basahan/baybayin on the bottom.]
Self-Portrait (Original 2006; Revised 2018)
Ako si Lukayo
And I am searching for the equation in the centre of the dream
I am unraveling the thread of modern mythological seams
Sino yan?
An anti-hero unsung
Sino yan?
A faith healer just begun
Sino yan?
An ideological disaster blasting capitalism faster
Than ricocheting bullets from a verbal Gatling gun
Ako si Lukayo
I am a construct of your bias, experience, and dreams
I am a congruence of light and sound that insists I’m heard and seen
Sino yan?
Known by many names
Sino yan?
Burned by social flames
Sino yan?
Your entertainment one-stop, on a soap box with a joke dropped
Between phrases carved from fire that heal as much as maim
Ako si Lukayo
And I am making poetry my temple so that I can be redeemed
I am a voice, a vision, or an SJW laser beam
Sino yan?
An artist just for fun
Sino yan?
A trickster on the run
Sino yan?
A 33-year old catastrophe, no apathy or atrophy
But tired of this poem so this intro’s finally done.
Wanna hear the rest of the poem and get a larger version of the new artwork I drew? Better yet, want to commission me to write a poem and draw something for you? Click on the link to become a patron. For as little as $1/month you can support healing work among my communities, and the indigenous Elders that mentor me.
