Emerging BIWOC Poet Spotlight: Asa Drake
This monthly series features poems by women of color in the early stages of their publishing careers. It is our intention to create more space at Perugia for the work of poets who are Black, Indigenous, and women of color (BIWOC). We hope using our platform to highlight this work will expand the readership of the poets we spotlight. This series aligns with Perugia’s mission to celebrate and support emerging women poets, inclusive of gender-expansive identities; featured poems will be from poets with no more than one published full-length collection. We’d love to hear from readers with suggestions for poems & poets to feature.
February 2026 Poet: Asa Drake
Dreamscape Dressed in My Younger Self
First, you have a dress of gold, but
you can’t wear it. The gold dress cannot
be washed or dry-cleaned. Hell, the tag
says no spot-cleaning. So you have a dress
of gold, just in case. Then a field of red sorrel
in rows like someone loves it. Then a pine
forest with a dogwood floor. Next the Perseids
behind sheet lightning. Next-year fruit
from your own cuttings. Slice me fruit
from the year I have yet to grow. I couldn’t slice
a pomegranate with less than six cuts.
Once you learn, there’s only one way to prepare
the pip-star in each soft pear. I have seen illustrations,
and I have been scolded by so many women
for making indefensible halves at their pie table. Now,
remember that dress we’re saving. You try it on.
Source
Maybe the Body, Tin House, 2026
“Dreamscape Dressed in My Younger Self” from MAYBE THE BODY by ASA DRAKE © COPYRIGHT 2026. Used with permission from the author.
Poet bio
Asa Drake is a Filipina/white poet in Central Florida. She is the author of Maybe the Body (Tin House, 2026) and Beauty Talk (Noemi Press, 2026), winner of the 2024 Noemi Press Book Award. A National Poetry Series finalist, she is the recipient of fellowships and awards from the 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest, Kenyon Review Residential Writers Workshop, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, Storyknife, Sundress Publications, Tin House, and Idyllwild Arts. Her poems are published or forthcoming in the American Poetry Review, Georgia Review, and Poetry. A former librarian, she currently works as a teaching artist.