Unfinished Duplex

Steffi Tad-y

After Jericho Brown



I was scared being angry meant being unloveable.
Angry I had nowhere to put it down.

Anger, where do I put you down?
The Tagalog word for pomegranate is granada.

Having eaten what I can’t detonate, I agonize.
I agonize over gut flora while taking pictures.

I take pictures of magnolia, plum, &  bougainvillea.
The trees detonate magnolia, plum, & bougainvillea.

I was a child of an explosion after explosion.
Without a camera, my cousin saw an explosion.

What does it mean to witness an explosion? Carry it home? 
I was scared being angry meant being unlovable.





Steffi Tad-y is a Filipina writer based in Vancouver, B.C., in the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, & Tsleil-Waututh nations. Her first poetry chapbook was published by Frog Hollow Press in 2019. To watch the Toronto Raptors play live is part of her bucket list. One of her current and pressing goals is to write a funny poem.