Neon Manila
“Like a lover’s pit-stained, memory-scented turtleneck sweater, this book intoxicates with a stinging clarity. What a stylish and truly bold debut.’ - Chen Chen
Neon Manila is an exploration of the queer Filipino body in all of its skin and glitter. Looking at pop music, fashion, jewellery, dating mishaps, and everyday London life, the poems in this collection seek a better grasp of the relationships we build with ourselves, of the internal as constantly contoured by the external.
A Poetry Book Society Recommendation.
Nine Arches Press, 2025
Reviews
“… a reminder that queerness, and individuality can flourish in uncertain times and a collection for anyone who recognises their own body, memory, or longing in these lines […] a spark held up to what it means to become.” - Yomi Sode for Poetry Book Society
“… an excellent collection of poetry that deals with many important themes in an inventive and clever way. Neon Manila will appeal to fans of punchy poetry with light and shade and a sense of vulnerability.” - Paul Burston for The Book Bag
“Cabida’s queer confessional vignette style lends itself to narrative continuity and self-examination. Even as he matures into what may not be a perfect acceptance but is at least some stated negation of self-hate (“in Times New Roman,” he jokes), there’s an ache of incompleteness, of solitude in the assumptions others make based on appearance: “everyone here thinks I’m an exchange student and therefore contain no human emotions.”” - Robert Eric Shoemaker for RHINO
“In a post-pandemic and post-Brexit landscape, Neon Manila continues to grapple with processes of negotiation and redefinition. Aspects of the body continue to function as a crucial literary site, through which questions of belonging and visibility are explored.” - Denise Saul for the Jhalak Review
“Troy Cabida’s Neon Manila is far more subtle than the title implies - instead you’re more likely to encounter a caramel-coloured rollneck in the finer weaves of this merino debut collection, which reminded me more of a well-ordered London department store than a gaudy bazaar.” - Julian Bishop for The Alchemy Spoon
Symmetric of Bone
‘These poems hold the contradictions of our bodies and our desires: hard and soft, liquid and abrasive.’ - Nina Mingya Powles
Inspired by the work of acclaimed jewellery designer Elsa Peretti, Symmetric of Bone is a lyrical and personal response to art and glamour.
Here, Troy Cabida borrows strength and energy from Peretti's jewellery as he tackles the homophobia, racism, and heartbreak that comes with contemporary urban life.
A Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice.
fourteen poems, 2024
War Dove
‘This debut is a battle cry for our past and future selves, a serenade finding pleasure in the things that fight back.’ - R. A. Villanueva
‘There are lines that make you pause and think, and lines that shatter with the brilliance of quartz.’ - Romalyn Ante
War Dove is a story of profound growth, of growing into oneself, of knowing tenderness, not as a skin to be sloughed on the way to maturity but a central muscle beating vital strength into the body. Cabida’s poetry refracts mental and emotional wellbeing through a kaleidoscope of cultural identities. This dove learns to soar and sway, heal and harden like ‘honey / crystallised and unflinching’.
Bad Betty Press, 2020.