World Poetry Day: You Who The Earth Was For by Steffi Tad-y

Steffi Tad-y

This World Poetry Day, we’re serving a sneak peek from ROOM 46.1 Around the Table: Asian Voices.

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You Who The Earth Was For
Steffi Tad-y

After Jean Valentine

You fleeing war, carrying a rooster with your shaky hand.
You trained to pummel, never the first to wince or flinch.


You who plant their sadness into the dirt.

You whose questions have no gentle answers.


You who cook too close to the stove.

You at the table, missing the one not there.


You whose loss comes with a wordlessness.

You beside the rubble, out to build again.


You in the backseat being loved.

You running towards the water.

 

 

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Don’t forget to RSVP for the launch of  ROOM 46.1 Around the Table: Asian Voices, taking place Sunday, March 26!

Register Here!

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“You Who The Earth Was For” by Steffi Tad-y was first published in ROOM 46.1 Around the Table: Asian Voices. Copyright © 2023 by Steffi Tad-y.

Born and raised in Manila, Philippines, Steffi Tad-y is a poet & writer based in the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, & Tsleil-Waututh Nations, also known as Vancouver, British Columbia. Her chapbook of poems “Merienda” published by Rahila’s Ghost Press was nominated for the 2021 bpNichol Chapbook Award. In 2022, she published her debut book of poetry “From the Shoreline” with Gordon Hill Press. Steffi’s poems often reflect on kinship, diasporic geographies, & formations of the mind.

Upcoming Issue

Room 45.2 Cover

ROOM 46.2: Ley Line
Editor: Geffen Semach
Assistant Editor: Annick MacAskill
Shadows: Adesina Brown, Kendra Heinz, Nara Monteiro
Cover Art by semillites hernández velasco

Currently On Newsstands

Illustration by Paige Jung of five Asian faces of various ages and skin colours. All are wearing bright clothes and have sombre expressions.

ROOM 46.1 AROUND THE TABLE: ASIAN VOICES
Editor: Michelle Ha
Assistant Editor: Shristi Uprety and Isabella Wang
Cover Art by Paige Jung

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