<h1>to pour (css: "font-size: 200%;")+(text-rotate-z:8)[[[[?|user input]]]]
: to baptize</h1>
//An interactive poem by Mattie Balagat//
//For the best experience, read this on desktop with a full-width browser window.//
<small>Made with <a href ="https://twinery.org/">Twine</a></small>.(set: $obj_touch to (prompt: "What is the dearest object to your right?", "family picture"))
(set: $obj_drop to (prompt: "What is one possession you have misplaced and not been able to find in the past month?", "sign pen"))
(set: $person_1 to (prompt: "What is the name of the person you last laughed with?", "Nina"))
(set: $person_2 to (prompt: "What is the name of a person you have tried to forget?", "Miko"))
//There is water in your hands.// You pour it into...
> [[a Chinese porcelain vase]]
> [[a shallow tub]]
> [[a streetside canal]]
> [[a measuring cup]]
> [[a sea]]<h2>a Chinese porcelain vase</h2>
The sun lulls in mom’s voice.
It is always summer
when she starts with one of her favorites:
<br>
<br>
(align:"==>")[//it was then when we still lived
in that house with the wooden window shutters
with the mango tree outside the
one that Uncle fell from
with the hammock you liked to sleep on remember
anyway I woke up to the coffee mug
crack and Ma screaming in front
of the cabinet,//]
<br>
<br>
You reach for the $obj_touch
and fiddle with it, nodding.
The calluses are tender.
<br><br>
(align:"==>")[//no your Papa was out then
at his first job with the city hall
so he had to take two three jeepneys home
no family should open the door Ma was saying
and your Papa of course he could not say no to Ma
not with her panicking on the telephone,//]
<br><br>
You could shut it out,
but the dusk is too humid
for you to resist.
<br><br>
(align:"==>")[//we joked then but i swear
that was the start of Ma's you know
thank God your Papa did not
believe in those things
because really it was just a rat,//]
<br><br>
You give way, breathless.
The sky is a colored
stained-glass laugh.
<br><br>
(align:"==>")[//but up to now
I still leave the light on
and keep that cabinet closed
no, same old
same old
,
ah, how is $person_2?//]
<br><br>
You need to forgive the slowness
of summer.
<br><br>
---
//The water is now in the vase.//
> [[reach an arm in|a sea]]
> [[hide it|a shallow tub]]
> [[empty|a streetside canal]]
<h2>a shallow tub</h2>
skim-space
=|
|
|
|
|
|
=|
(wake a morning
to overturn
the global syndicate
that sends emails
outside work hours
=|
/
`\`
/
`\`
/
=|
breath a schedule
to patent
the $obj_drop
or just hush
and offset carbon)
|==|
skip-time
(align:"==>")+(box:"X")[//Where is the $obj_drop?//]
<br><br>
---
//There is water in your hands.//
> [[pour quick and carelessly |a Chinese porcelain vase]]
> [[pour too much|a sea]]
> [[pour carefully|a measuring cup]]
> [[rinse your hands|a shallow tub]]
<h2>a streetside canal</h2>
good thing $person_1
reminded you to bring your
umbrella. your new shoes
(align:"<==")+(box:"===========XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX==================")+(css:"margin-top:-0.5em; margin-bottom:-3em")[still clumsy on too-neat pavement so
you figure into a ritual of unseeing.
frothing eyes mix with mud;]
(align:"<==")+(box:"======XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX=============")+(css:"margin-bottom:-3em")[the city writhes in fantasies
of enclosure. the kids are repeating
how we speak little fences.]
(align:"<==")+(box:"==XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX========")+(css:"margin-bottom:-2em")[today you will let the rain
impinge upon your map.]
maybe you will
(align:"<==")+(box:"==XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX========")+(css:"margin-top:-0.5em; margin-bottom:-1em")[fish out the $obj_drop
from murky floodwaters.]
(align:"<==")+(box:"===========XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX==================")+(css:"margin-bottom:-3em")[the passing van driver
blares a tune
$person_2 hates.]
(align:"<==")+(box:"======XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX=============")+(css:"margin-bottom:-1em")[you look up
and notice your
umbrella has holes.]
(align:"<==")+(box:"==XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX========")+(css:"margin-bottom:-2em")[faded signs
and jay-crossings—]
you are knee-deep in faces,
names you are outliving.
histories crash over
(align:"<==")+(box:"==XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX========")+(css:"margin-top:-1em;margin-bottom:-3.5em")[the road home,]
(align:"<==")+(box:"===========XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX==================")+(css:"margin-bottom:-3em")[in waves.]
(align:"==>")+(box:"====XXXXXXXXXXXXXX=============")[//something missing aches,
tenderly.//]
---
//The water has spilled into the canal.//
> [[watch it drift with the current|a sea]]
> [[walk home|a Chinese porcelain vase]]
> [[ignore|a shallow tub]]
<h2>a measuring cup</h2>
rote movement:
==||====
Delete the picture.
<br><br>
Nudge the $obj_touch
to the right.
Meet $person_1
at their favorite bar.
Cut down on salt.
===||
//forget a key
recall a hollowing
quiet the
trill of smoke
grasp another
shade of yellow
confront a
thick smallness
if you can//
|==|
practice a vanity.
<br><br>
---
The water is now in the cup.
> [[drink it|a sea]]
> [[let it be|a shallow tub]]
> [[throw it away|a streetside canal]]
<h2>a sea</h2>
Do you breathe when you are conscious of your lungs? The $obj_touch beckons. //Where is $person_2?// Either they stopped totaling your debt, or you have walked past enough statues. $person_1 said they tend to tomato to watch the world fold upon itself. So you drop a coin in a busker’s can and return to the shop across the school gates. Warm Coke and ice in glasses that shimmer like a $obj_drop. //Who is $person_2?// You get a phone call. Your muscle for devotion is stiff, so you exercise it by doing groceries for your mom. In between shelves of household brands, you blame her for not teaching you how to float. In response, she prays for you. You are made to pass into another. //$person_2?//
<br><br>
---
//You are in the sea.//
> [[cup it with your hands|a shallow tub]]
> [[swim elsewhere|a streetside canal]]
> [[reach a shore|a Chinese porcelain vase]]