Dear readers,
Like before, all the editors found themselves in monsoons of their own. Transitions, changes, leaps of faith. Our lives went through seasons too, internally and externally. As a result, one issue became two - and more for the better.
The poems we received reflect the beauty of monsoons and seasons. How we navigate through Life, how we response to the sea changes within us and without. We received beautiful and heartfelt poems from LGBTIQA and Southeast Asian poets. Each poem is a pearl, formed from the pain and joy of being. We were overjoyed to hear these voices and now we are proud to present them to you, dear readers.
Elliott Dunstan's Blue Crocus and Seeds of Home bring home (pun intended) the significance of belonging, of being part of home. Where is our home? What is our home? Is it just a piece of land, the earth at our feet? Or is it more abstract, formed by concepts and ideas and longing. For queer poets, the idea of home is fraught with pain, especially for many who face discrimination from their own family members. And for many too, home is found family.
riot in this unblooming by Nicole Tan made us cry in a good way. The poem is so physical, so rich, so steeped with smells and fragrances that you feel the story right there in your heart. And it is a story, a song, that needs to be heard.
Cookie Hiponia Everman's Little Bean is the poem that broke our hearts into a million pieces. Go read it. Now.
Four pearls. Born of monsoons and seasons. Survivors, lovers, individuals, part of this immense web we call Life. We live because we love. We have withstood monsoons and seasons.
We are strong.
Joyce, Editor-in-Chief
Like before, all the editors found themselves in monsoons of their own. Transitions, changes, leaps of faith. Our lives went through seasons too, internally and externally. As a result, one issue became two - and more for the better.
The poems we received reflect the beauty of monsoons and seasons. How we navigate through Life, how we response to the sea changes within us and without. We received beautiful and heartfelt poems from LGBTIQA and Southeast Asian poets. Each poem is a pearl, formed from the pain and joy of being. We were overjoyed to hear these voices and now we are proud to present them to you, dear readers.
Elliott Dunstan's Blue Crocus and Seeds of Home bring home (pun intended) the significance of belonging, of being part of home. Where is our home? What is our home? Is it just a piece of land, the earth at our feet? Or is it more abstract, formed by concepts and ideas and longing. For queer poets, the idea of home is fraught with pain, especially for many who face discrimination from their own family members. And for many too, home is found family.
riot in this unblooming by Nicole Tan made us cry in a good way. The poem is so physical, so rich, so steeped with smells and fragrances that you feel the story right there in your heart. And it is a story, a song, that needs to be heard.
Cookie Hiponia Everman's Little Bean is the poem that broke our hearts into a million pieces. Go read it. Now.
Four pearls. Born of monsoons and seasons. Survivors, lovers, individuals, part of this immense web we call Life. We live because we love. We have withstood monsoons and seasons.
We are strong.
Joyce, Editor-in-Chief