CHAPEL LANE
when I beam lumpiang shanghai
at the food truck window / the white woman
doesn’t understand what I mean
but I am good with my American
mouth / it no longer hurts to bite
my tongue and smile / I can pronounce
adobo / syllables hard as an oboe /
and the woman scrawls it fast / the line
sprawls behind / so many Mississippians
asking about pan-sit / chicken
arrows / and I don’t blame them
for the leche flan / already sold out
I want to believe in the truck / the holy
Filipino cook / the communion
of onion and garlic wafting from inside
Auntie / forgive me for peering
on tip-toe at the window / tell me
you’re in there / sweetening
this humid air with vinegar / fish
sauce / and soy / resurrecting
the sharp scent of home
nothing between us but the window
opening / let me say salamat
to someone who understands
Noreen Ocampo is a poet dedicated to uplifting the Filipino American South. She is the author of the chapbook There Are No Filipinos in Mississippi (Porkbelly Press, 2025), and her recent work can be found in Frontier Poetry and Chestnut Review. She holds an MFA from the University of Mississippi.
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