JSA
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selected writing 

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Lillian Allen's Mighty OCADU Writers
Jo SiMalaya Alcampo's love for creative writing was nurtured by Mary Lou Soutar-Hynes, a Jamaican-Canadian, former nun and Ontario poet/educator who engaged her Scarborough students in lively discussions about social power, civic responsibility, and the political rhythms of dub poetry.  Jo studied creative writing at OCAD University with Lillian Allen, an internationally acclaimed Jamaican-Canadian dub poet, who inspires students with her passion and commitment to advocacy on world issues.

Jo's writing and multimedia art have been published in TOK 6: Writing the New Toronto, INCITE! Journal of Experimental Media & Radical Aesthetics, Fireweed Women’s Literary & Cultural Journal, and Pinoy Sa Canada.  She has performed at the Toronto Women's Bookstore, Ellington's Cafe, Trane Studio, Kapisanan Centre (Araw ng mga Patay/Day of The Dead Festival), and the Junction Arts Festival (Poetry Village).

In 2010, Jo participated in the Diaspora Dialogues Mentoring Program and worked with critically-acclaimed Canadian author Rabindranath Maharaj.  Jo's short story, "the inviolable heart" was selected for publication in the Diaspora Dialogues anthology, TOK 6: Writing the New Toronto (2011).  Jo performed the first public reading of her story at the 2011 Word on the Street Festival (Toronto).

In 2011-2012, Jo worked with a group of emerging professional Filipino-Canadian playwrights, led by Director of Play Creation, Marjorie Chan.  The group produced new work for Carlos Bulosan Theatre. The first public reading of Jo's play, "Hilot means Healer" was presented at Tales from the Flipside 2012.

Projects for 2013-2014 include Kwentong Bayan: Labour of Love - a community-based comic book project created by Althea Balmes (Illustrator) and Jo SiMalaya Alcampo (Writer) in close collaboration with Filipina migrant workers in the Live-in Caregiver Program.
These are the stories that you don't see in mainstream media.  These are the stories that you won't find in most academic papers or research studies. These are real-life stories of community and friendship, love and struggle, and women's empowerment.   In the Filipino language, "kwentong bayan" is the literal translation of  "community stories" and our comic book project is rooted in love.  Please visit our website to learn more: www.lcpcomicbook.com

For 2014-2015, Jo will be the new Playwright-in-Residence at Cahoots Theatre supported by Diaspora Dialogues.


migratory flyways


It is my fifth birthday and I become aware.
A canary is trapped inside my chest cavity.

Its claws cannot grip the slippery bones of my rib cage.  It flies in circles searching for a safe place to rest.  It finally perches on the conical pouch that forms the left ventricle of my heart.

Its feathers are fluffed, eyes half-shut, wings droopy with exhaustion. The unfamiliar stillness scares me more than the constant fluttering.  Breathing becomes difficult. 

My lungs spasm and squeeze the bird between sinew and flesh.
Its beak lacerates muscle tissue.

A tiny stream of blood spreads over its yellow crown of feathers.
My wounds heal but the bird never moves again.

excerpt from short story, "the inviolable heart"
© 2010 Jo SiMalaya Alcampo

home

in canada
the syrup
flows slowly
from tapped trees
with buckets
like baby bird mouths
waiting for crystallized
candy drops
shaped into maple leaves
poured into bottles
dressed in mountie red

country of my growth

in the philippines
the coconut tree
absorbs the heat
of the sun
takes it in lovingly
pressure
transforming
sweet viscous flow
into juices
that taste sweeter
to the tongue
that is south of asia
east of india

country of my birth

© 2009 Jo SiMalaya Alcampo

this time-release poem was written in response
to Robert Priest’s two-line poem:
“The hotter the sun the quicker the honey”

my next bio

the jester
contemplates leaving behind

her fool’s cap
pestering bells
and mock scepter

to walk
into the world
naked

in vulnerable
majesty

with only her
open heart

as a crown

© 2013 Jo SiMalaya Alcampo

On Becoming A Writer (Inspired by Jamaica Kincaid’s ‘On Becoming A Girl’)


hold pen to paper before dreams recede
this is how to glide

face the page when moonlight draws its veil
this is no praise no blame

this is how to simply start
this is how to break language apart

this is how to let your toes breathe
this is how to swing like an eight-year old

this is how to make friends with cranky librarians
this how to get to the Toronto Women’s Bookstore

this is how to cancel the cable
mute messenger and unplug the pod
this is how to be still and silent     
then scream in high park

ay nako, what if I don’t have a single word to say? 
do you really believe that anyway?

this is how to write yourself an affirmation
“i will avoid high drama mamas”

this is a love note packed in your lunch
“do not give away your best things”

this how to commune with Plato, Plath, and Poseidon

but what if I am the only one that thinks this way?
you and the universe is enough i say

this is how to remember
how small
you once
were

this is staying in your body
this is how to breathe

this is the first plant you did not kill

this is how to thread a needle
with your authentic voice
this is how to sew

this is how to ski cross-country
with alice munro

this is how to belly laugh
this is how to fully cry
this is how to how to say it in tagalog

but Até, what if I fall?
ay minamahal…

this is how to have it all

© 2008 Jo SiMalaya Alcampo

notes: Até - big sister; minamahal - my beloved

i've been thinking of ancestors

in the long count
i name each story i know

in the silent beats
i weave together frayed edges

i want words to describe
the threads not dyed in my blood
yet whose love constitutes
warp and weft

i want words
to describe you

© 2013 Jo SiMalaya Alcampo


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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License

All work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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© 2019 JSA