Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Denise Duhamel's poem "Bangungot" delves into the cultural and personal anxieties surrounding the Filipino folk illness known as bangungot, which is said to cause sudden death during sleep. The poem seamlessly blends elements of fear, folklore, and intimate relationship dynamics to explore the emotional landscape of someone deeply concerned for their loved one's wellbeing. Through vivid imagery and a conversational tone, Duhamel captures the tension between rational understanding and emotional fear.

The poem opens with the speaker recounting how her husband introduced her to the term "bangungot," which intriguingly sounds like a blend of "banana and coconut." This phonetic description not only sets a slightly whimsical tone but also underscores the foreignness and intrigue of the word and the concept to the speaker. The introduction of the term leads to a fixation on the fear that her husband might succumb to this mysterious condition, highlighting how new knowledge can sometimes translate into new anxieties.

Duhamel introduces the cultural belief associated with bangungot—that a demon might sit on a man's chest, causing death—or that it might be induced by nightmares. Her husband, however, attributes the cause to dietary habits like too much fish sauce, shrimp paste, or rice, especially late at night. This clash of interpretations between supernatural causes and more mundane explanations like diet reflects the blend of traditional beliefs and contemporary understanding, which is a common theme in cross-cultural exchanges and marriages.

The speaker's personal response to her husband's dismissive attitude toward bangungot is to try and mitigate the risk through lifestyle suggestions like taking walks after dinner or playing cards instead of watching television. However, her efforts are complicated by the realities of life—sometimes she has other commitments, or she falls asleep first, which leaves her husband potentially vulnerable. This dynamic illustrates the helplessness that can accompany the fear for a loved one's health, as well as the limitations of our ability to protect others from unseen threats.

Duhamel's use of dream imagery in the poem intensifies the sense of fear and the blurring of reality with folklore. The speaker dreams of her own body acting like a manananggal—a mythical Filipino vampire that separates at the waist and preys on sleeping victims. In her dream, she becomes the very creature that embodies her fears, illustrating how deeply internalized her anxieties have become. This transformation into a manananggal in her dream serves as a powerful metaphor for the consuming nature of her fears, as well as the cultural integration she's experiencing through her relationship.

The poem concludes with a surreal and poignant image. The speaker, in her dream, realizes her legs are missing, and by the time she "gets them back," she imagines herself as a widow wearing black ballerina flats. This ending captures the ultimate fear of loss and the abruptness with which it can happen, as well as the profound impact such a loss would have on her identity and life.

Overall, "Bangungot" by Denise Duhamel uses a personal narrative infused with cultural folklore to explore themes of love, fear, and the intersections of culture in personal relationships. The poem vividly conveys how deeply personal fears are often intertwined with the myths and stories of our or our partner’s cultures, impacting our subconscious and our emotional responses to those we love.

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