I was extremely excited about this new debut poetry collection - I love contemporary poetry, and as well as wanting to learn more about Filipino culture, I adored this collection's gorgeous cover and clever and intriguing title. Thankfully, the collection lived up to my high expectations.

Telling the story of generations of migrants from the Philippines in the UK, the collection looks at one's homeland, colonisation and family, and is steeped in Filipino folklore. It is extremely clever how two worlds are brought together in this collection: We have the richness of the Philippines, with many family and wider cultural traditions explored, and we also have Britain - migrants who are separated from family and find exile in employment. There are many clever bridges throughout this collection which I really enjoyed, including Tagalog being studded throughout. Ultimately the collection came together to create an effective and emotional call to the struggles that can come along with seeking belonging and assimilation.

There were a few poems in the collection that I didn't feel I was fully understanding - there were certainly some cultural references that went over my head, and layers of meaning that I wasn't quite connecting the dots with in my first reading. I believe I would get more from this collection on a reread, and would have an even greater emotional response to it.

Overall, I found this collection to be very beautiful and quite powerful. The poetry medium as the perfect choice for exploring these different experiences and feelings - I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested!

I'm not an Own Voices reviewer. I would have given this 3 stars based on my understanding and engagement ability with the collection, but I don't think a 3-star rating from a non-representative of Filipinx culture would be useful. I can't speak for the culture, nor can I say that the discussion of immigration from The Philippines to the UK resonated with me.

What I can say is that I got a very basic, surface-level understanding of the theme and it was really well-written. Emotion pours out onto every single page. My basic understanding comes from the fact that members of my family immigrated to the UK from India, Pakistan, and Kenya. But my understanding of my own cultures doesn't extend to an understanding of Filipinx culture.

Although my review doesn't seem to say so, I did really like this collection. I would simply prefer that you seek out some Own Voices reviews from Filipinx reviewers who really understand the book and what it explores!