kattrina m

i had to look up what mahal means

kattrina m

one of the first things people learn about me is that i’m half filipino. no no, not latina. asian. i could tell you how my dad was born in baguio city, and was the youngest son when he and his family moved to san francisco, where he later built a life of his own. met a sicilian woman who gave birth to two kids, a combination of both cultures, yet i really only know one of them. i look up tagalog on google and words that i can understand with ease become unintelligibleMahal? what is mahal? oh... love that’s what i feel towards my filipino-ness but it’s almost like a red, white, and blue ribbon with a single golden strand clinging to both sidehow can you explain to someone your culture when you’ve barely experienced it yourself? i will say this though: i do my best to tie more strands together with recipes for lumpia, and music, and poetry, and phone calls to my dad that are sprinkled with questions about whatever tagalog he remembers. i may not know much, but i can still say that if someone came for us, i’d still be one of the first in line to defend my people

kattrina m is a queer, biracial writer and poet from Redding, CA, USA. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies from Southern Oregon University. She has been featured in various independent magazines, such as Polemical Zine and Pinstriped Zine. She enjoys boba tea, reading queer as hell books, and listening to music. You can see her work on Instagram @thelittlemoonbi.