What does it truly mean to have a body? What does it mean to dissect, unearth, and yearn for a different body? Sacred and Perishable follows friends Dian, a medical student, and Carlos, a shapeshifter as they challenge concepts of time, self, and the other. A story of leaving, returning, and becoming, Sacred and Perishable weaves body horror into a rich narrative of stubbornly thriving queer friendship, postcolonial futures, Filipino mythology, and transformation.
torrin a. greathouse, author of Deed and Wound from the Mouth of a Wound, said in her judge’s citation, “The best poems make between their words a small world. Each poem within Sacred and Perishable is a world with its own physics and a gravity that moored me to the page. Baconguis writes with the precision and detail of omniscience and the emotional acuity that only human wounds bring. A stunning exploration of gender and transness, misogyny and violence, Sacred and Perishable is one of my favorite chapbooks I’ve read in recent years and a sure sign of a shining career to come.”
Carissa Natalia Baconguis is a writer from Laguna, Philippines. Graduating from Ateneo de Manila University and St. Cloud State University, she has received a poetry award from the 2019 Loyola Schools Award for the Arts and became a fellow for the The 20th IYAS La Salle National Writers’ Workshop in 2020. Her poems can be found in Pa-Liwanag: Writings by Filipinas in Translation (Gantala Press/Tilted Axis Press, 2020), 聲韻詩刊 Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine Hong Kong, Young Star Philippines, TLDTD Journal, and LIGÁW Anthology.
Please note, this book is currently open for pre-orders only and will ship in October 2025.
What does it truly mean to have a body? What does it mean to dissect, unearth, and yearn for a different body? Sacred and Perishable follows friends Dian, a medical student, and Carlos, a shapeshifter as they challenge concepts of time, self, and the other. A story of leaving, returning, and becoming, Sacred and Perishable weaves body horror into a rich narrative of stubbornly thriving queer friendship, postcolonial futures, Filipino mythology, and transformation.
torrin a. greathouse, author of Deed and Wound from the Mouth of a Wound, said in her judge’s citation, “The best poems make between their words a small world. Each poem within Sacred and Perishable is a world with its own physics and a gravity that moored me to the page. Baconguis writes with the precision and detail of omniscience and the emotional acuity that only human wounds bring. A stunning exploration of gender and transness, misogyny and violence, Sacred and Perishable is one of my favorite chapbooks I’ve read in recent years and a sure sign of a shining career to come.”
Carissa Natalia Baconguis is a writer from Laguna, Philippines. Graduating from Ateneo de Manila University and St. Cloud State University, she has received a poetry award from the 2019 Loyola Schools Award for the Arts and became a fellow for the The 20th IYAS La Salle National Writers’ Workshop in 2020. Her poems can be found in Pa-Liwanag: Writings by Filipinas in Translation (Gantala Press/Tilted Axis Press, 2020), 聲韻詩刊 Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine Hong Kong, Young Star Philippines, TLDTD Journal, and LIGÁW Anthology.
Please note, this book is currently open for pre-orders only and will ship in October 2025.
