on sour encounters
I feel like I’m taking Leo season very seriously this year. According to an Instagram post I read, three sage advice for Leos this season includes:
To wear really bright colours
To feel your heart and listen to it
To take the time to express yourself
The past year since my last birthday had been very exhausting. Second year uni kicked my head in. I moved library jobs during my Easter break, which came with its own anxieties and growing pains that I was too busy to acknowledge or prepare for. In the midst of it all, I feel like I’ve really put poetry on the back burner of things, so now that I’ve settled into my new job and I’m on a much-needed summer break, I’m craving for a creative release.
Which brings us here.
on sour encounters is a seven-poem sequence about the micro-aggressions that queer people find hard to ignore and even harder to confront because we live in a society where the offended queer person has to be the one mindful of the offending straight person.
If you’re down to check it out, please click the cover photo below. Would make my birthday month a lot brighter!
Shout outs to Hibaq Osman for your advice on how to produce this project. To July Sumalde for the cover photo. To Courtney Conrad and Oakley Flanagan for all of your support. To Kulay Labigitan and your super bright soul. To Hannah Ali for always checking in. To Emily Wood, Elspeth Walker, and Will René for being such inspiring artists in your own rights (as well as poetry library colleagues). To Ayaan Abdullahi and Neimo Askar: for more than everything.
To every single person who gave me the lived experiences that inspired me to write these poems: sana dumating isang araw ang mga nararapat sa inyo. You tried though x
Hope you enjoy reading my work.
- T