My name is Lehuanani Marie Taitano.
I would prefer no religions at all.
I am Chamoru.
C-H-A-M-O-R-U
C-H-A-M
C-H
But
the assistant shakes
her head, scrolls through a drop-down
list of pre-existing ethnic
conditions.
She shakes her head,
brow furrowed, pointer finger
clicking, tapping, wagging no.
That’s not an option.
Lehua Taitano | Lehua M. Taitano, a native Chamoru from Yigo, Guåhan (Guam), is a queer writer and interdisciplinary artist. She is the author of two volumes of poetry–Inside Me an Island (June 2018) and A Bell Made of Stones. Her chapbook, appalachiapacific, won the 2010 Merriam-Frontier Award for short fiction, and her most recent chapbook, Sonoma, was published by Dropleaf Press in 2017. She hustles her way through the capitalist labyrinth as a bike mechanic who sometimes gets paid to make art.