Amphibian: Poems by Joseph O. Legaspi

Description

A body in motion. A border crossed. A belonging still unfolding.

In Amphibian: Poems, Joseph O. Legaspi crafts a lyrical and searching collection that moves between worlds—geographic, emotional, and spiritual. Drawing on the metaphor of “amphibious living,” these poems explore what it means to adapt, survive, and ultimately flourish as both a queer person and a Filipino American navigating shifting landscapes of identity and home.

Legaspi turns to the natural world as both mirror and guide. Water, land, and air become spaces of transformation, reflecting the fluidity required to exist between cultures, languages, and expectations. Through these elements, the poems trace an immigrant’s journey—departures and returns, dislocation and rediscovery—while asking where, and how, belonging takes root.

There is a quiet insistence throughout the collection: that existence itself is proof enough. That the search for home is not a weakness, but a form of resilience. That queerness and migration, often framed as fracture, can also be sources of strength and renewal.

Intimate, reflective, and deeply evocative, Amphibian is a meditation on identity, memory, and the layered experience of moving through the world as both insider and outsider. It is a collection that listens closely—to the self, to history, and to the environments that shape us—and, in doing so, claims space with grace and clarity.

Book Details
Author: Joseph O. Legaspi
Format: Paperback
Publication Date: April 15, 2026
ISBN: 9798899480072