TIKBALANG

by Alexa Tajanlangit | From Issue One (Fall 2025)

Tip of the blade, blood like honey

I saw Him in a dream.

Stars stitched the blackness of the night

as I paced steady through strange stretches 

of the vale, warped memory,

childhood barbeques, titas, hyenas,

laughter catching in the wind.

Smoke clouds billow from the grill

reaching cedar heights,

my hair smells of meat & charred promises. 

Inday & I walk arm-in-arm, pull apart mangled 

inheritance, weave through generational grief,

smooth it over with an inside joke, basking 

in Toronto summer as the clouds overhead crack—

Her face switches for His,

bramble splinters from her wrist, 

reaches for my throat as I run,

lift your tongue to the roof of your mouth,

look straight head—

My lolo’s advice on passing vicious stray dogs 

at nightfall sear in my mind, 

blades of grass cry beneath my feet

as violent hoofs echo over a wicked laugh,

Every path you choose will lead you

to eventual ruin—

Pain ripples from the strike delivered

 to my ankle as I fall by the river’s edge,

my breath catches at the distortion reflected

up at me—

Black, bottomless eyes, crimson   slowly dripping from my mouth.

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Alexa Tajanlangit (she/her) is a Filipina-Canadian writer based in Toronto. Alexa graduated from the University of Toronto with a B.A in Book & Media Studies and History. Her works have been featured in Ricepaper Magazine, Petal Projections and elsewhere. She is currently working toward her debut novel. Her poetry can be found on Instagram @literaryalexa.