The Story
Exploring queerness, belonging, and the meaning of home through the lens of a Filipino American
How does a queer brown body move through the American panorama? In Amphibian, Joseph O. Legaspi explores the metaphor of "amphibious living"--adapting, surviving, and flourishing in varying geographies--as it pertains to immigrants and to queerness. These poems draw on the natural world to illuminate personal experiences and, in turn, closely examine cultural, environmental, and societal constructs and concerns.
Legaspi searches in nature for evidence of the validity of his own existence, determined to declare his belonging. Dwelling in landscape as a guide into the interior, Amphibian journeys not only between earth, water, and air, but also into the past, cataloging an immigrant's departures, arrivals, and returns to native soil. This moving collection is at every turn liberating, fraught, and altered.
Author: Joseph O. Legaspi
Publisher: Curbstone Press
Published: 04/15/2026
Pages: 91
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9798899480072
About the Author
JOSEPH O. LEGASPI is the author of two previous poetry collections, Threshold and Imago, and of three chapbooks: Postcards; Aviary, Bestiary; and Subways. He works at Columbia University, teaches at Fordham University, and resides with his husband in Queens, New York.
Description
Exploring queerness, belonging, and the meaning of home through the lens of a Filipino American
How does a queer brown body move through the American panorama? In Amphibian, Joseph O. Legaspi explores the metaphor of "amphibious living"--adapting, surviving, and flourishing in varying geographies--as it pertains to immigrants and to queerness. These poems draw on the natural world to illuminate personal experiences and, in turn, closely examine cultural, environmental, and societal constructs and concerns.
Legaspi searches in nature for evidence of the validity of his own existence, determined to declare his belonging. Dwelling in landscape as a guide into the interior, Amphibian journeys not only between earth, water, and air, but also into the past, cataloging an immigrant's departures, arrivals, and returns to native soil. This moving collection is at every turn liberating, fraught, and altered.
Author: Joseph O. Legaspi
Publisher: Curbstone Press
Published: 04/15/2026
Pages: 91
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9798899480072
About the Author
JOSEPH O. LEGASPI is the author of two previous poetry collections, Threshold and Imago, and of three chapbooks: Postcards; Aviary, Bestiary; and Subways. He works at Columbia University, teaches at Fordham University, and resides with his husband in Queens, New York.
