We’re delighted to present our first issue of writing from the Philippines. The Philippines has a long colonial history that has contributed to an incomplete understanding of the country’s plurality of cultures. The work here reclaims both language and literature to rewrite the conventional monolithic narrative imposed by colonial and nationalistic discourses. In the aftermath of a typhoon, Daryll Delgado flashes back to her multilingual childhood. Genevieve Asenjo’s homesick expats find comfort in karaoke. Waray poet Voltaire Oyzon dives into a love-hate relationship with water. In two views of indigenous communities, Joy Serrano-Quijano brings a child’s perspective to a militarized village, and M. J. Cagumbay Tumamac mourns the gradual disappearance of a traditional way of life. Anthropologist and writer Tito Valiente spins a traditional tale of a young woman romanced by a mythical being. Poets Marlon Hacla and Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles explore the philosophy of language and the meaning of experience, and Enrique Villasis takes poetic flight from a painting by artist Vicente Manansala. And Jessica Hagedorn speaks with us about living in and with multiple languages. Guest editors Kristian Sendon Cordero and Kristine Ong Muslim contribute an insightful introduction. Also this month, we bring you three tales of the otherworldly.