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Writer's pictureMarías at Sampaguitas

Poetry by Jo Alvarado

yearning from the nonbeliever


what exists on the other side of dreaming?

tell me –

convince me

there is an end to this yearning

that the silent wishes i tuck in between words

are enough

to build a world

of fortune, of futurity,

i wish for a universe that is not so delicate

i cannot cope if it slips through my fingers

if i shatter in every alternate timeline

tell me –

is it brave to wish for life? more life

to have faith despite it all

to unveil the hurt and witness the threads of possibility

will i gaze upon a land of satiated desire or of broken promises?

perhaps we shall place bets then:

roll the dice and tell me the chances / wish on the curls of my eyelashes / suspend time at the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour / will the stars to fall out of the sky / light the world on fire and inscribe your wishes into your exhale / break me in half, carve your luck into my bones

tell me –

will i be lucky enough to survive this?


Jo (she/her) is a queer, Filipinx poet from Modesto, California. She studies English and Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley, where she is the Editor-in-Chief of {m}aganda magazine and a contributing writer of GIA Magazine. She writes from a place of healing and reclamation, and she hopes to provide a space for others to do the same. You can find her on Instagram at @johanlorraine and @maganda.magazine.

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