Cover design by Nicci Mechler & photo by Sumeet Kulkarni

THERE ARE NO FILIPINOS IN MISSISSIPPI

[ August 2025 | Purchase from Porkbelly Press ]

Selected by Nicci Mechler as part of Porkbelly Press’ 2025 micro-chapbook series, There Are No Filipinos in Mississippi explores an ongoing process of seeking, witnessing, and cultivating Filipino community in a town where the closest Asian grocery store is an hour’s drive away. Simultaneously reminiscing a vibrant, magic-filled childhood in Georgia and grappling with the newness of a lonely adulthood in the Magnolia State, this chapbook aims to reframe the South as a place of creative community-building and unexpected joy.

“I don’t want to cry again.”

—My father, after being asked if he wanted to read

“Noreen’s poems are such a tender and fresh force […] THIS is one to help a new poet step into the world of contemporary poetry and to add to your bookshelf of beautiful, zingy chapbooks!”

—Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of Oceanic, Bite by Bite, and one of my most favorite Filipinos in Mississippi