our mother carrying / thank you grocery bags stretched / translucent with you / in her belly

I am little drunk right now / as if I am naked and shot at point blank

Jalandoni’s preferred medium is oils, but she has recently branched out to working with textile and sculpture. Her imaginative, colorful paintings trace the exploration of her Filipino heritage and bicultural identity. She achieves this through portraiture and collaging flower motifs, while also acknowledging Filipino national symbols and “typical” found objects in a Filipino household.

when you have surgery / you must sign a form / agree to let the overseeing medical organization / dissect, reproduce, dilute / your removed organs into / anything / imagined by science

She was a Bobolo grandmother / en el Nuevo Santander / who in her grief self-immolated / like the Vietnamese monks and nuns. / But in the 1700’s, no TV camera recorded / her death at her own hands, / protesting the invasion.