Publication news
Pre-order my chapbook Revelations and Paper Trail Projects' Brave New Words vol. 1
In 2022, I wrote, “I want Revelations to be my first chapbook, whether it gets published or not.” I was determined to take my work seriously. At that point, the project, which I began in earnest in 2021, was only a rough collection of old poems and drafts with a pattern I was yet to flesh out. The titular poem, written in a trance-like state, served as the collection’s North Star. To my surprise, two years later, Revelations gets published. It still feels surreal.
Until my residency last May, I hadn’t really articulated what my chapbook is about. I have always let the work speak for itself because, to me, the poems are the explanation. Poetry has always been the way I processed the world and what I experience within it. It is how I think. Explaining it anew, whether through an essay or an elevator pitch, is a challenge.
The best way I have described the project is this: Revelations is my attempt at recognizing and mourning how fragmented our realities have become in light of the histories we have inherited, but it is also a mustering of the courage and imagination to go beyond that. Through it, I seek a sense of purpose that binds me to you, us to one another, as a way of understanding the self fractured by the weight of violent personal and collective histories. I write about this a woman. I write about this as a Filipino who encounters the world primarily through the English language. I write about this as someone who, raised by the internet and its deluge of information, came of age haunted by the prospect of the world ending.
Because the publishing process takes so long, my feelings towards Revelations have evolved significantly since last year. I have even revised some of the poems in the chapbook. Like I told a friend a few days ago, while I already feel so distant from Revelations, it still feels great to have this project out. It is a good exercise in letting the work go. So, here it is.
In other publication news, the first volume of Brave New Words is now available for pre-order from Paper Trail Projects in Manila. The inaugural issue features my poem “The Tower”, which will also be coming out in University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa’s Black Warrior Review this year. I am immensely proud and grateful to be included in this fierce, ambitious, and hopeful anthology. (Salamat, Adam at PTP!)
The inaugural volume of Brave New Words is a collection of creative work focused on imagining tomorrows beyond all of today’s eternal struggle against atrocities and anxieties: wonderland or wasteland? Will the world truly be better off if we were all dead? Whatever will we do for entertainment once we’ve eaten all the CEOs and board members of all multimedia multinational companies? Will we ever have a president from the ranks of the proletariat?
Featuring brave new work by Eric Abalajon, tilde acuña, Ronald Araña Atilano, Michael Balili, Jerwin Bilale, Raiza F. Cabugwang, Gigi Constantino, Jasmine Cruz, Paolo Jose Cruz, Bernardine B. de Belen, Jelo de Guzman-Altea, Redwin Dob, Gilford Doquila, Harold Garcia, Ella Hermonio, Ivan Emil Labayne, Angeli Lacson, Tocz Laurenio, Francesca Mauricio, Catherine Orda, Gwyneth E. Patam, Gibson Perez, Sahara Piang, Athena Ramos, Rudy, Jayaprakash Satyamurthy, Karlo Sevilla, Lian Sing, Martin Singh, Benj Gabun Sumabat, Alyza Taguilaso, Normandale Angelo Tioco, and Maria Veloso.
Edited by Adam David. Cover art by Rudy.
Secure a copy at the pre-order price (P300) until July 31 here. Afterwards, it will be available online and at BLTX (August 3 at Sikat Studio, Morato, QC) for P350.
Pre-orders
For friends and family in the US — Revelations will be available on the publisher’s website very soon (and I’ll be sure to let you know once it is!), but I currently have a handful of advanced copies I’d be happy to send out. As a thank you for being my first readers, I’ll write a personal note for each order.
If you are also interested in adding a piece of Philippine literature to your library and getting a copy of Brave New Words vol. 1, let me know in the form as well.
Everyone back home in the Philippines — if you’d like to get a copy, pre-order through the survey below. The price covers the cost of the chapbook and international and domestic shipping. I’ll keep you updated on the timeline as soon as I have it.
If you’re having trouble with either forms, feel free to send me an email at semperfemiiina@proton.me.
Thank you for being a friend and a reader. Writing is a solitary practice, but the hope is always that whatever I create in solitude finds its way to others, and grows there.