Arlene Biala is a Pinay writer from the San Francisco Bay Area who has been participating in poetry performances and workshops for over 30 years. She is a 2023-2026 Lucas Artist Residency Fellow in Literary Arts at the Montalvo Arts Center and was Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County for 2016 and 2017. She is the author of continental drift, one inch punch, and her beckoning hands, which won the 2015 American Book Award. Her latest book is a thousand voices whispering from Sampaguita Press, November 2025. Her poems are prayer flags offered to those whose stories have been silenced, hidden, and ignored. Arlene’s work centers on stories of family, of generations who have left their native lands to live in diaspora, particularly those from the Philippines. She writes poetry to serve as witness, to create space for recognition and dialogue toward healing.
to hide from the soldiers at night
tatay and the men dig pit houses
on the banks of the angalakan river
each depression deep enough to hold
a family of eight to ten people
ladders of bamboo lashed with twine
we grasp firmly while the elders climb
the men reinforce the earthen shelters
with bamboo framing and rooftops
so we don't get buried alive
while we are sleeping.
we are still allowed to go to school
and the adults do what they need
we listen for things to get worse:
rumble of tanks growing louder
or the day tatay tells us we have
to stay in the shelter all day, at least
until tomorrow, or maybe tomorrow
night, at least until all of this is over
mampapasnok angry
to steal takew, matakew
