"Dad", Christian Aldana Sanders

Write what you know
Should I try to twist a poem out of memories
I don’t have of birthdays and graduations and holidays
Write what you know
Can you wring a verse out of a father’s echo
to fill the negative space in a family photo
Write what you know
What kind of lines explain absence fondly
And wrinkle into a single mother’s frown
Write what you know
Is that why I can’t write
About you

/ Christian Aldana Sanders is a queer, multiracial Filipina poet and educator based in Chicago. She is an estranged American - born in LA but raised in the Philippines and Vietnam before returning to the US for university. She is the creator and host of Luya, a poetry organization by and for the Asian diaspora. She believes deeply in using poetry to build kapwa and community, and to educate ourselves about history.

2019.2Daryl Qilin YamPoetry