I am happy to share that two of my late father's poems written in his native tongue, Chavacano, appear in the latest issue of Words Without Borders, featuring writing from Southeast Asian creole languages. Entitled "Ojos del Marijada" (Eyes of the Wave) and "Nor Marcos" (Mr. Marcos), these two poems are accompanied with his own English translations, as well as audio recordings of my aunt, Dr. Sonia Alensub, reading the poems in the original Chavacano. Professor Stefanie Shamila Pillai also wrote a remarkable introduction to this issue, making the vital observation that "[F]or multilingual writers such as those represented in this issue, choosing to write in their heritage languages can be seen as an expression of agency, an active choice to communicate in a nondominant language rather than, for example, an official or national language (e.g., Malay, Filipino, Portuguese, or Chinese), or an international language like English." I would like to thank the Words Without Borders team for this wonderful opportunity to showcase my father's work in Chavacano, especially Nina Perrotta who initially reached out to me. This is a wonderful gift to us during my father's birth month.
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