Pinoy Indie Authors

15/05/2026

A year after a mother’s death, her love does not fade. Even in absence, a mother’s love keeps resurfacing in quiet, unexpected ways.

Poetry to touch your heart from THE MANGO QUILL, Pinoy Indie Authors’ digital magazine:

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Tanka
by Alvin B. Cruz

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a year after
mother’s death
memories written
on the palimpsest
of shifting sands

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Alvin B. Cruz first saw his poems published in the Philippine Graphic, then edited by Nick Joaquin. At University of the Philippines Diliman, he honed his craft under Francisco Arcellana, who often singled out his poems for praise. Cruz is the author of four poetry collections and the world literature textbook Breaking Ground Through English. His poetry and haiku have received international recognition. He is a Professor of English at Far Eastern University Alabang.

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Read other literary works from The Mango Quill by Copying and Pasting this to your Browser:
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15/05/2026

A year after a mother’s death, her love does not fade. Even in absence, a mother’s love keeps resurfacing in quiet, unexpected ways.

Poetry to touch your heart from THE MANGO QUILL, Pinoy Indie Authors’ digital magazine:

====

Tanka
by Alvin B. Cruz

====

a year after
mother's death
memories written
on the palimpsest
of shifting sands

====

Alvin B. Cruz first saw his poems published in the Philippine Graphic, then edited by Nick Joaquin. At University of the Philippines Diliman, he honed his craft under Francisco Arcellana, who often singled out his poems for praise. Cruz is the author of four poetry collections and the world literature textbook Breaking Ground Through English. His poetry and haiku have received international recognition. He is a Professor of English at Far Eastern University Alabang.

====

Read other literary works from The Mango Quill by Copying and Pasting this to your Browser:
www.https://pinoyindieauthors.com/the-mango-quill-may-2026/

To download a printable copy: https://pinoyindieauthors.com/subscribe-to-pia/

LIKE & FOLLOW US TO BE UPDATED ON FUTURE CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

13/05/2026

This poem reflects on a mother’s quiet, unspoken love expressed through sacrifice, labor, and daily acts of care rather than words or affection.

Another worthy read from THE MANGO QUILL:

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In Silent Spaces
by Cess Pabellano

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As a kid, I rarely heard praise from my mama.
No warm hugs, either.
No pat on the head when I bring home stars.
No “I love you,” not even “I miss you.”

Love at home was never expressed loudly.
It is suppressed, living in silent spaces.
But I know it’s filled the four corners of our house.

In my mama’s effort to wake up at 4 am,
to cook rice, smoked fish, instant noodles,
to heat water for morning baths.

In flower-scented clothes fresh from the laundry.
In dinner always ready by six.
In reminders to bring an umbrella.
In occasional Jollibee treats.

In pride set aside to ask for loans
just to send us to college.
In her stubborn determination
to give us a winning chance in life.

My mama’s love exists in her calloused hands,
tired eyes, wrinkled forehead, toothless smile,
aching knees, slightly bent body
from carrying everything for years
without a word of complaint.

My mama’s love is an invisible thread –
quiet yet unbreakable –
weaving the fabric of our lives.

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Cess Pabellano is an educator, researcher, and writer. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños. Some of her works were published in Mountain Beacon and Bulatlat.

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Read other literary works from The Mango Quill by Copying and Pasting this to your Browser:
www.https://pinoyindieauthors.com/the-mango-quill-may-2026/

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11/05/2026

A poignant read from The Mango Quill. Here is our Editor’s Choice picked from so many submissions for our maiden issue:

Her Own World of Small Constellations
by Christine Cabaliza

I was told of a younger memory of my grandma grabbing a plate of her home-cooked food. Beside a plateful of lumo was a bowl of vegetable broth. It was soup time.

She had wooden bowls in different sizes. Mostly in brown and naked wood, she loved cooking in them over metal. The well-used chopping board, the two knives with handles wrapped in old fabric, the rattan cabinet that held her most precious plates.

Every summer, it was always a feast. I would see yellows, blues, and reds like little fireworks lit in every hidden corner. Like her, all radiant, all at once. Mornings were her favorite. Between 10 and 11, that was because she would be with the sounds of her favorite pots.

Read the rest of the essay and other literary works by Copying and Pasting this to your Browser:

www.https://pinoyindieauthors.com/the-mango-quill-may-2026/

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sweetsharplit

10/05/2026

The 3rd Pinoy Indie Authors Poetry/Prose Collab presents:

Becoming: A Journey of Blooming 🌷

You won’t just read this book collection—you’ll find yourself inside it.

Born from a 10-week writing journey, each book in“Becoming: A Journey of Blooming,” is a collection of poems and prose that gently walks you through healing, letting go, and coming home to yourself.

Flowers and Feelings Raining SOON!

Like and Follow us to be updated.

10/05/2026

The 3rd Pinoy Indie Authors Poetry/Prose Collab presents:

Becoming: A Journey of Blooming 🌷

You won’t just read this book collection—you’ll find yourself inside it.

Born from a 10-week writing journey, each book in“Becoming: A Journey of Blooming,” is a collection of poems and prose that gently walks you through healing, letting go, and coming home to yourself.

Flowers and Feelings Raining SOON!

Like and Follow us to be updated.

LettingGo FilipinoWriters PoetryCommunity BooksPH SupportLocalAuthors

09/05/2026

🌟 Soon to Come! 🌟

The 6th Pinoy Indie Authors Collab:

BAKUNAWA RISING: TEEN GOTHIC CRIME STORIES

The Bakunawa: The Moon-Eating Dragon of Philippine Mythology

The Bakunawa is a legendary creature from Visayan folklore feared for its power to swallow the moon.

The name is believed to mean “bent snake” (from baku, bent, and nawa, large snake) or simply “eclipse” in Cebuano.

According to myth, seven moons once lit the night sky. But one by one, the Bakunawa consumed them, until only a single moon remained. Every time it tried to swallow the last one, the world would fall into darkness…what we now know as a lunar eclipse.

Ancient communities didn’t just watch in fear. They fought back. During an eclipse, villagers would bang pots, drums, and shout into the night, creating a deafening noise to scare the beast away and force it to release the moon.

Are you ready for the Bakunawa?

Watch out for our 6th Collab!

🌟 Soon to Come! 🌟

08/05/2026

🥭 🪶 THE MANGO QUILL: Pinoy Indie Authors’ Digital Magazine is here!

FROM THE EDITOR:
Ami Granada, Editor/Facilitator of the Maiden Issue

Ami Granada is a published author of both fiction and non-fiction books and has also written for newspapers and magazines.

Pinoy Indie Authors launches its first DigiMag, The Mango Quill, with a theme at once familiar and inexhaustible: Love for Mothers.

Across these pages, thirty-one writers, working in forms as varied as their sensibilities, turn to a figure often rendered in sentiment, and discover instead a landscape of revelations.

Here, she appears in fragments and fullness: as memory and presence, as origin and enigma. These works do not settle for reverence alone; they linger in the intricate textures of care, absence, inheritance, selfhood, and feats of Amazonian strength.

What emerges is not a single portrait, but a constellation.

As editor/facilitator, I offer this collection as an invitation: to read the mother anew, and to encounter the woman within and beyond her.

——
Copy and Paste this to your Browser to read The Mango Quill:

www.https://pinoyindieauthors.com/the-mango-quill-may-2026/

You can also Scan the QR Code in this post to download a copy.

literarycommunity

08/05/2026

🥭 🪶 THE MANGO QUILL: Pinoy Indie Authors' Digital Magazine is here!

FROM THE EDITOR:
Ami Granada, Editor/Facilitator of the Maiden Issue

Ami Granada is a published author of both fiction and non-fiction books and has also written for newspapers and magazines.

Pinoy Indie Authors launches its first DigiMag, The Mango Quill, with a theme at once familiar and inexhaustible: Love for Mothers.

Across these pages, thirty-one writers, working in forms as varied as their sensibilities, turn to a figure often rendered in sentiment, and discover instead a landscape of revelations.

Here, she appears in fragments and fullness: as memory and presence, as origin and enigma. These works do not settle for reverence alone; they linger in the intricate textures of care, absence, inheritance, selfhood, and feats of Amazonian strength.

What emerges is not a single portrait, but a constellation.

As editor/facilitator, I offer this collection as an invitation: to read the mother anew, and to encounter the woman within and beyond her.

https://pinoyindieauthors.com/the-mango-quill-may-2026/

The Mango Quill: May 2026 maiden issue is here!

06/05/2026

Filipino writers deserve to be seen.

The UP ICW Writers and Collaborators Registry is a growing record of the writers, scholars, and artists managed by the Likhaan: UP Institute of Creative Writing, hosted on the PanitikanPH website.

This registry is open to all writers. If you would like to be included, you may send your name and credentials, and we can create a dedicated entry for you—complete with its own link—on our website.

Help us build this community of writers, add your name to the registry:
panitikanph.com/author-category/icw-writers-collab/

06/05/2026

🌟 Announcing the CONTRIBUTOR LIST for The Mango Quill’s Maiden Issue 🌟

THE MANGO QUILL, Pinoy Indie Authors’ Digital Magazine, will be LIVE on Friday, May 8, 2026.

Here are the contributors to our maiden issue.

Thank you for trusting us with your words.

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THE MANGO QUILL

Sweet. Sharp. Lit.

That is the spirit of The Mango Quill—a space for writing that lingers like sweetness on the tongue, then cuts clean with truth.

The Mango Quill holds and contains words that are tender, but never dull. Honest, even when it stings.

Here, sweetness is not innocence.
It is memory, care, longing.

And sharpness is not cruelty. It is clarity, the courage to name what is often left unsaid.

THE MANGO QUILL will be LIVE on Friday, May 8, 2026.

Don’t miss it!