Banál

Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash

I strongly believe

That some underestimate

The mundane,

Disregard the everyday

Of how we live

And breathe

Living in this skin

I am born to feel [1]

I take note:

How tightly our skin is pressed

Together

Your fingers in my hair

The distance between our hello and

Goodbye

How familiar it is

I take heed:

An almost summer breeze

Moving petals from the heavens

Down onto artificial lawns

A pink blanket

On a concrete city floor

I remember:

How rushing cars can make gales

That mess up my hair

Push smoke into my lungs

While pausing

Under a different sky

Filled with distorted prayers

When they tell me

This is banal

I stutter,

Stumble on my vowels

And mourn

Mundane

Is what you meant

Holy

Is what I felt

When they tell me

Something is banal

I hear

Something is banál

Virtuous, precious

Holy

Holy, holy, holy

Banal is a place

Where the veil is thin

Between our worlds

Revealing

Another view

Of our bodies

And the sky

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[1]Inspiration: jaye simpson

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Phebe M. Ferrer is a researcher and poet living in Vancouver, on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. Phebe recently graduated with a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of British Columbia. She is currently exploring and studying poetry as a medium of writing and expression. You can find her growing collection of work at phebemferrer.wordpress.com

Phebe on her poem's meaning: "In thinking about liminality, I wanted to write about words that are spelled the same in both Filipino and English, and have completely different meanings (tripping me up throughout my life so far). ‘Banál’ is one of those words that I think about a lot, in its dual meaning of mundane in English and sacred in Filipino. I wonder how that reflects in the way I think in English and Filipino, and how both languages treat the sacred and the ordinary."