Mom is from the Philippines;
she has been American

forty years. Made a habit of white
rice and chicken. So I was never

vegetarian. Home of meats
and starch– broth for breakfast.

She never taught me traditional
dishes; I only ate

what was given. Can’t speak
Tagalog– last I heard,

she’s trilingual and I am
thirty years old, eating French toast–

bread in cream in butter. Plus sugar.
I must be American.

(originally published in Madness Muse Press, Fall 2020)