Love, Your Artsy Girl

photo by Henrietta Bogdan Agave Press has announced the upcoming publication of my full-length poetry collection in November 2018! I n anticipation of the publication of By Astrolabes & Constellations by Cristina Querrer (forthcoming from Agave Press this November), we are pleased to share with you an excerpt from this volume. This collection of poems explores an interweaving and melding of worlds and experiences; it is an ebb and flow of awareness, bringing together questions of the self and of identity, travel, nostalgia, loss, and the beauty of forgiveness. https://www.agavemag.com/author-spotlight.html

"the spirit of the staircase" by Tiana Nobile When I visited the Asian American Workshop Workshop's table at AAWP Tampa 2018, I was greeted by a bubbly young Korean-American woman who entertained all my weird questions. I introduced myself to her and asked if she had a book for sale here and she lit up and presented me "the spirit of the staircase" as shown above which upon first blush, appeared to me like a graphic novel when I started flipping through it. But what caught my attention (as I'm sure it did for many people) was the brazen index of poems: I. Is it true Asian pussies are sideways? II. Go back to China! III. I used to work in Korea. Ya'll make really great cars. IV. I used to watch Thai porn with my Taiwanese ex-girlfriend. Then we'd fuck. V. Where are you really from? VI. I've never had an Asian before. VII. What are you? These titles coupled with Brigid Conroy's paintings, which are light a...

I t's April, National Poetry Month, and I thought I'd dedicate my next posts to reviewing a couple Asian-American writers and other poets whose works I've discovered this past 2018 AWWP (Association of Writers & Writers Program). It was my first time ever attending the event and because this time for once, it actually convened in my area, therefore, had no excuse but to attend at least one day.  I was overwhelmed, swirling, like a kid in a candy store for I was surrounded by books and my artsy fartsy tribe! I got a chance to run into the women at the Sundress Publication's   table.  One of my poems have appeared in their earliest online magazine back in the late '90s.  While there, I  stumbled upon the work of Jim Warner, entitled "Actual Miles" published by Sundress Publications.  He's a Filipino-American poet.  How do I know?  Well, when I was thumbing through the pages, his poem "subic bay" jumped out at me. Jim Warner...