ASA DRAKE
Asa Drake is a Filipina/white poet in Central Florida. She is the author of Beauty Talk, winner of the 2024 Noemi Press Book Award, forthcoming from Noemi Press in spring 2026. Her chapbook, One Way to Listen (Gold Line Press), is the winner of a 2023 Florida Book Award. A National Poetry Series finalist, she is the recipient of fellowships and awards from the 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest, Sundress Publications, Tin House and Idyllwild Arts. Her most recent poems are published or forthcoming in Poet Lore, The American Poetry Review and VOLT.
Mothers say, happiness is inherited.
Sometimes the garden is made of stones.
Care first. Decide about love later.
I’m not interested in making myself legible or accessible to others. I try to write my poems as clearly as possible for myself. I’m the only person that I have to make comfortable.
October 14, 2024