"Tabios, the inventor of popular poetic forms such as the Hay(na)ku, traces her beginnings as a poetic innovator through the history of U.S. colonialism over the Philippines, which was enabled by the spread of the English language. Tabios shows the origins of new forms through the influence of experimental poets such as John Yau, Arthur Sze and Mei-mei Berssenbruge. This memoir can also be read as a handbook offering readers an understanding of poetic forms and the tools to create them"--