To Swim with Eels - Emelihter S. Kihleng

part of me comes from rodents
a rat surrounded by kemisik¹
in Saladak, land of lasialap²
all my friends are kemisik
while I am only part kitik³

I could have been eaten, then
taken to the mouth of the river

the other part of me is empty
with no animals to call family
whiteness mistaken
for nothingness

I swam with lasialap girls
and their ancestors who
lurked behind rocks
and was never afraid although

I could have been eaten, then
taken to the mouth of the river

I have heard of children in Kitti
who swim with sacred eels
in freshwater pools and streams
never to be bit
my fingers bled twice from
the mouths of eels who
tried to eat the food off my fingers
a warning

I could have been eaten, then
taken to the mouth of the river

Saladak is theirs eternally
descendants of Lien Madauleng,
their eel ancestress, who came to Pohnpei
on a school of marep
and gave birth to four eel daughters
I am not one of them
Sounpasedo, of chiefly lineage
and kemisik blood, yet
we swam and ate together like sisters
but I must remember

I could have been eaten
by kemisik girls and their mothers

long, slick bodies full,
manaman,
swimming upstream
to give birth to male chiefs

---

Emelihter S. Kihleng (20th century) Guam
Source: Menginpehn Lien Pohnpei: A Poetic Ethnography of Urohs (Pohnpeian Skirts) by Emelihter S. Kihleng, PHd thesis, University of Wellington, 2015

This poem recounts a history of the Lasialap sou (clan), specifically the Sounpasedo subclan of Saladak whose eni (ancestresses) are kemisik or fresh water eels

1. Fresh water eels
2. The ruling clan of U, their eni (ancestral spirit) is the kemisik
3. Rat