BY ALYZA TAGUILASO. 0 begins with an explosion. / 1 My great-great-grandparents were making love when the First World War decided to happen.

BY AI JIANG. I hated my name until the end of high school, especially during my kindergarten and elementary school years.

BY KWAN ANN TAN. This is a romance. A messenger rides against a backdrop / of moonlit sand on an Arabian steed.

BY YVANNA VIEN TICA. Voice held / inside like a panic. / I could never erase / myself from the narrative.

BY ANDY LOPEZ. You bump into White Boy on a parched, irreverent Wednesday morning, power-walking your way...

BY YSABELLE CHEUNG. Eighteen expats in Hong Kong. Their Whatsapp group chat is a string of emojis: wine glass wine glass wine glass. Flags.

BY DOMINIC SY. The shot that killed Andres Novales, Emperor of the Philippines, was molded in a tower on the outskirts of Andalucia.

BY KHAIRANI BAROKKA. not made for blake quotes and tinder profiles. / not squandered for bullets slung as attempts

BY JACK MALIK. a diluted, unconfirmed mocha middle-east / skin—mixture of herbs & a medley of origin: