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  • Writer's pictureMarías at Sampaguitas

Poetry by Joseph Schwarzkopf Jr./Butchoy

B*Y*N*

My mother tells me of half recalled grandparents

With possibility of tainted blood, of self destruction

Of women who hid with their sisters from the lust of invaders

Of men with mestizo features and possibility


She doesn't want to age

My mother tells me of half recalled grandparents

Ones she barely met and ones she carried with her

With possibility of tainted blood, of self destruction


Of women who hid with their sisters from the lust of invaders

Shaking between unsolid structures, clutching hands

Of men with mestizo features and possibility

Wasted for the white man's salvation


We do not, we can not speak in other stories

We only reminisce on the faint shadows of ancestors.




Joseph Schwarzkopf Jr./Butchoy (he/him) is a Western Sydney-based poet and filmmaker. His practice explores the varied experiences of the Filipino diaspora. His written works have been published in the UTS Writers’ Anthology, the Australian Poetry Anthology, and the Mascara Literary Journal. Joseph’s favourite word is pie.


This poem will also be featured in the upcoming issue, Mahal: Mahal: Who We Are, What It Cost Us, and How We Love. Expected publication date is January 2021.



Following the poetic form, The Labra, created by Keana Aguila Labra.

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