Poetry by Chanelle Pingree

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Mahålang

mahålang
in my Chamorro language
relates to expressions of longing
sentiments of sadness

there are some words
we learn through experience
and some words
we become through experience

example of the first
i felt mahålang when my brother died
example of the second
i am mahålang for my brother

when I was a little girl
i used a mnemonic device
a memory trick to
remember it

my poetic inclinations
and love of literature
led me to use a lovely device 
called alliteration

the repeating of
initial same letter or sound
in neighboring words such as
mahålang means missing

missing someone
missing home
missing what once was
missing what is no longer

feelings of nostalgia
intense desire for something unreachable
deep yearning for the familiar
symptoms of homesickness

it is wanting to return
to a person place or thing
aching for what is absent from our lives
wishful thinking

an intermittent discharge
steam rising from a spring 
turbulent tears bursting
geysers of our grief

mahålang yu’ nu hågu.
what it means
in English translation 
i miss you

​


Chanelle Pingree is an indigenous Chamorro poet and writer from the Pacific Island of Guam. She holds a B.A.in Philosophy and minor in Asian Studies. Her work has been published in Libretto Magazine, The Southern Quill, Epiphany, Salt Lake City Public Library Zine and Pacific Daily News. She is a raging bookworm and is passionate about education, philosophy, saving public libraries, mental health advocacy, space exploration, and environmentalism. She thoroughly enjoys discussing and writing about existential topics highlighted in science fiction, fantasy books, comics, and films. She explores the cosmos full-time living in a TARDIS with her bearded Viking husband and two brilliant sons.