BE ME

These short stories are snippets of queer life from so many different places; some familiar though many are not. It is a good reminder to me, that I am not alone, that LGBTQ folk exist all over - they struggle, they create, they resist, they dream. Reading the stories, I feel connected even through words, to the author's imagination, based on their lived reality, which often in some sense is similar to my own story and in many ways so different.

The Book of Sainted Aunts

At one time in our life, we may have stumbled upon the majestical stories of the Greek Gods and Goddess. We started wondering if it’s simply a myth or could all of these beings actually exist once upon a time. What is this book about? It’s about you. Who you are, and who you could be should you choose to be one of the sainted aunts, or you are already one.

A/PART: An Anthology of Queer Southeast Asian Poetry in the Pandemic

I really like this book a lot. It talks about poetry written by those in the LGBT+ community, and is aimed towards those in the community. It helps those in the community to express themselves, with all their insecurities and problems, especially those concerning the COVID pandemic, projected into beautifully crafted words on paper. I rate it 8/10

I recommend “Why Southeast Asia’s LGBT community is finally coming out” by Kok Singhui (reporting for the South China Morning Post) as a complimentary read.

The editor of A/PART articulates that his aim in gathering an anthology of poems is to illustrate the 'various possibilities of how queer individuals in SEA have tried to grapple with meaning (or the lack of it) during this difficult period'. Does the collection contribute anything unique among the many laments of this pandemic period? Jose Luis Pablo's Rainbow mourns symbols of hope that are shrouded by traditions that suppress. Anathema harrowingly articulates the struggle of an individual trying to simply 'be' themself in the face of endless adversity. As with most poetry collections, the reader will migrate to those poems that speak to and from their own lived experience. For me, the value of this anthology lies in this aspect, as opposed to it being a unique expression of the queer experience of COVID-19. 

The poets featured in A/PART wrings words, language and space to give voice to queer bodies and identities in a time of heightened anxieties.

In its introduction, Dela Peña posits “What does it mean for a body to desire in isolation? How do LGBTIQ individuals navigate their suddenly and severely restricted perimeters? How have we been transformed by this global health crisis?”