Even the scarred can dream on new year’s eve
A hopeful New Year’s poem, written on New Year’s Day 2023, while recovering from a heartbreak
Poetry
Poems published in journals, literary magazines, and elsewhere.
For my niece struggling with bipolar disorder
There is a darkness in this world that even the world can’t put a…
Ways I resist our colonizers
My “Third World” tongue is learned in wars. Putang ina, gago, and tarantado taste…
A letter from a Filipina to potential foreign mates
Listen: the ones in my past lives tanked my heart in a war zone…
Distant love smells like
The musty trees of your old letters, alphabet hanging from twigs. Ylang ylang blooms…
For a friend mending grief 2,700+ miles away
When you beckoned me through the looking glass, I saw your tornadoed world.Debris orbiting…
How I love this world
A finalist for phoebe’s Spring Contest 2023, this is a poem for this world and my kid. Written after Mary Oliver’s In Blackwater Woods.
Meruem and Papa
A poem on parallels between and Hunter X Hunter villain’s tender moments and a biological father’s absence and death
False poetics
An ecopoem about plastic pollution, published on Earth Day on petrichor for its Ecopoetics issue on Earth Day 2023.
Vasana
A small poem for a friend; about pure yearnings, warmth, and the light of memory. First published on The Hooghly Review on April 2023.
Self-eating
A ecopoem on how plastic pollution permeates our lives in unseen and insidious ways – including in what our children imbibe.
Playgrounds and transitions
A bittersweet poem on yesteryears, written while watching my daughter take on monkey bars at a playground.
Killing for the gourmet
A dark poem about the horrors of prized delicacies, foie gras and shark fin soup. First published in Janus Literary in March 2023.
Intersect
A saucy mild erotica poem (my first!), which was published in Rat World Magazine’s NSFW mini-zine.
Writing for a prize
For the hundredth time, I am writing about my stepdad. A 2,000-word essay,a cash…
Chosen family
A poem for a beloved environmentalist friend. First published in The Alien Buddha’s The Buddha Gets Rejected 2 print anthology on Feb 2023.