Thank you, re:asian magazine, for including me in the “firsts” issue!

The poem touches upon things I’ve been thinking about since grade school when I first read the phrase “benevolent assimilation” as a U.S. description of its colonial policy with the Philippines.

The magazine has also published a photo I took of the home my Lolo — grandfather — grew up in Cavite.

Here’s an excerpt from the poem:

Something like fear structured my feelings around the word
Philippines and whatever it was that connected me to it

Check out the full poem on the re:asian website here and let me know what you think — either here or on the re:asian site.