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 ISA LORENZO. There was a girl who loved to play in a field.

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

BY JULIENNE MAUI CASTELO MANGAWANG. In a woman’s hands did I meet God branching into ancestors who sang beneath trees, sat among waterfalls

BY DAMHURI MUHAMMAD. That valley is the most secret place.

BY LEE WONHA, TRANS. BY GENE PNG. Because I was born in spring, I thought that I’d like to live in a place where it’s always spring.

BY TEJASWINEE ROYCHOWDHURY. The evening smells sweet because where our snake-infested and untamed garden ends...

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

BY TERESA MEI CHUC. the deer did not / stop running / leopards / climbed into trees / that could not / hide them

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

BY J. MARCELO BORROMEO. ‘Do they sound like you?’ I asked.