aylli 🦭
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1159cowboy.bsky.social
aylli 🦭
@1159cowboy.bsky.social
450 followers 240 following 240 posts
tboy poet from the philippines 🐛 debut chapbook forthcoming from gacha press 🌱 anmly poetry reader 🐎 sundress editorial intern 📚 ateneo press review crew 🗡️
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1159cowboy.bsky.social
happy trans day of visibility 🩵 i'm one month on t, and it's been one month since i started hitting the gym! i try to appreciate where i am, even though every selfie i take feels like a before picture. maybe that isn't so bad. i'm glad that i got here!
My reflection in a multi-colored window. A post-gym selfie.
March 31, 2025 at 4:52 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
super happy to share that my debut poetry chapbook will be published by gacha press! coming this june 🌱
Happy World Poetry Day! Gacha Press Chapbook Contest And the winners are... Aylli Cortez Unabandon
March 21, 2025 at 11:54 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
happy birthday haley! here's a poem i love by fiona bruckman in en*gendered lit www.engenderedlitmag.com/fiona
F-150 I'm sitting in the F-150 with my boss driving between grassy highway medians. I feel like I can tell him anything. In the F-150 we take our time. It's so hot outside now. The sun is the brightest I've ever seen it and my glasses are streaked with the cheapest sunscreen. When I worked inside I used to get jealous of people who were outside in the middle of the day. It seemed like they had freedom. I feel giddy with freedom now, but I have to watch how much I say around Mark. I actually say almost nothing because I'm keeping myself on such a short leash. One of the first things he said when we sat in the truck together on the first day during was that he had a brother who was gay. Why'd you say that Marky? Lol. Sometimes I wanna crank up the song on WXPN and be like isn't this beautiful. Isn't there lowkey beauty everywhere. It's so bright outside, man. I was talking to my gf about this like it's hot but actually if you feel discomfort and say to yourself "what if the pain was love" you can have the best day of your life. Also, dude, if you look at something green for 10 minutes everyday it makes you happier. I have a triptych frame next to my bed w three shades of green -sassy grass, celtic queen, and esteemed mosses. I'm so happy to be out here man thank you for taking a chance on me here, really. I lied on my resume but I really do love landscaping. It's bright out here, man. It's green. And brighter every year. Fuck yeah.
March 11, 2025 at 5:57 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
celebrated my and my friend's T birthdays a couple days ago! now i have ten extra comically long candles
A slice of rich cheesecake with a blue birthday candle. In the background, two cups of vietnamese coffee and my friend digging into their own slice.
March 9, 2025 at 4:59 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
the bday celebration sounds so nice!!! i genuinely think aging is awesome and something to look forward to. this pic i saw on ig captures it well
You have to stay alive. You're gonna be such a beautiful middle aged freak. Young Freaks will see you in the streets and know things will be ok.
February 10, 2025 at 1:55 AM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
was reminded tonight of this poem i read in high school, "as far as cho-fu-sa" by mookie katigbak-lacuesta. definitely one of the works that made me want to pursue poetry
As Far as Cho-Fu-Sa by Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta What I am, ever, is this: composure of stone. Spare weather visiting the garden, small as the hours I keep watch by. Beyond this wall Must be better weathers. This claw of stars Must constellate somewhere into a bear, Else names would lie Since winter’s thaws, no script from you Save this: “I travel the river and follow The white gulls–” Husband. See me walking the dusty pass Where loom our prior lives? Here the years pass that I enshrine Within these walls, sparing nothing From the ardors of my stare. Blue plums, Paired butterflies repeat you In a walled world. I tell myself To clear the moss, mend the gate So long unswayed and caked with dirt, But nothing moves. Somewhere You are actual. Happen to me there.
January 25, 2025 at 2:16 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
don't tease me like this
flawless
January 6, 2025 at 12:07 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
nerding out to this brilliant poem that references The Fly!!! (excerpts from "static" by vincenz serrano) 🪰📺
Static (The right column reads as follows.) He stuns flies; fluid oozes from their abdomens. He places flies on the ground and waits for ants. Some flies recover and escape; most do not. With their mandibles, ants grab flies' legs and inject venom into their bodies. Some flies flail, but stop resisting when the venom takes effect. The ants take the flies back to their colony. He wants to see where they go but they pass through cracks in the wall. The ants left behind encircle the remnants of the fluid. He does this during late afternoons in childhood; in the film, he is working on a teleportation system. The system comprises two telepods connected to cables and a computer. The system can teleport an object but not a living thing. The computer program breaks it down into atoms, transmits then reconstructs it. The computer does not yet know what flesh is. Flesh breaks down but cannot be put together: what enters a dog emerges as tissue, fluids, bone, whimpers. It is only after he falls in love that he understands flesh. He reprograms the computer. He teleports a baboon. He then wants to teleport a human— himself. He goes inside one telepod, the door closes, sparks fly, the other door opens, smoke comes out and so does he. However, he does not know that a fly is in the telepod with him. [...] (The left column reads as follows.) When songs, advertisements, and programs end, I begin. Resemblance to wash and hiss of sea. I flow into places parched in silence: shoe racks, compost pits, door hinges, spaces, between raindrops, the interval between thirst and water. Unlike a wave I neither arrive nor depart [...] (The right column reads as follows.) teeth, nose—and other parts change: hair becomes tough as wire, saliva as corrosive as acid. He crawls on walls and the ceiling. He breaks his dinner down with saliva, sucks the fluid, vomits it, then sucks it back in. He tells his lover—I'll hurt you if you stay—so she leaves, but not for long, he who becomes fly stuns his lover undisguised, we move towards each other and corrode into closeness. It is not yet night, it is no longer love, I am not yet me, we are no longer in each other's mornings, not yet in each other's moments, it is the instant that moves and not time. The body is made up of decay. A poem is assembled out of voices taken from various mouths. A moment carries another moment in its mandibles. The future is the present passing through cracks in the wall. On the other side, let me merge with who I am, and come out undisguised. (The left column reads as follows.) the embrace of waves. I am in the straits of night's bandwidth, between the trough and crest of my voice until morning takes away the ocean of my speech.
December 18, 2024 at 10:54 AM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
happy w my bltx haul :^) feeling so touched & stimulated by the kind conversations + stunning art, poetry, prose. my favorite year-end event 🎁
A white poster with pencil-drawn illustrations for the small press expo, BLTX (Better Living Through Xerography), held on December 7, 2024. This marks its fifteenth year. A spread of various zines, chapbooks, rubbercut prints, and stickers. There is also a bookmark, a button, a postcard, and a party game packet.
December 7, 2024 at 3:37 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
📍 studio soup zine library (a lovely space that i will visit again soon!)
A warmly lit corner. A tall yellow lamp in the center. Behind it, a turntable next to several vinyl records. Shelves lined with books and zines on either side. A white cherubic face hangs on the wall. Another warmly lit corner. Zines are displayed on five wooden shelves next to a short floral lamp on a stool. Above it, a black and white illustrated poster says, "The Library Is a Commons."
November 30, 2024 at 2:12 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
this image! i love it so much. i'm not sure what the context of the phrase originally was though, the search results go back years haha
A screenshot of a Twitter post. In the picture, a seal is cradled in someone's arm. The caption reads: hold gently like a burger. A relevant reply reads: 15 curl ups with my fat little seal.
November 26, 2024 at 5:36 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
📍 up diliman campus today!
The sky peeks through the trees above a food stall–lined road outside Pavilion 3. A grassy area with trees and people. An orange cat atop a stone bench stares at the camera with beady eyes. A bridge above a body of water, surrounded by green.
November 26, 2024 at 5:28 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
brother...
"Horse Farm" by Jon Boisvert I decorate his plot with seeds, which quickly sprout three small horses. They call out to me in tiny horse voices. I'll have to build a stable & learn what horses eat. I'll have to teach them to be very quiet. If anyone finds out what I've done, they'll break my heart again.
November 25, 2024 at 12:46 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
so thrilled to get this peek into bendorf's new collection 🐝 make sure to read til the end of the poem!
An excerpt from "Michigan" by Oliver Baez Bendorf. It reads: am I the last loser in Michigan still banking on silence and pleasantries to protect me strangers/neighbors power walk past my ragged lawn their yards are dull and starve hummingbirds, monarchs, cardinals, and bees how is that more beautiful? if I stay in line if I keep my head down if I work harder et cetera
November 24, 2024 at 7:03 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
our intro to zines exercise was to introduce ourselves w zines 🌱
I'm holding a foldy zine. The back cover is yellow with a green four-leafed plant in the center. The prompt was "a drawing that symbolizes you." A garden in the background. The third spread of the foldy zine. The pages are a gradient of light brown, green, and yellow. The prompt was "One dream." I wrote, "I dream of making art with all my friends."
November 20, 2024 at 9:39 AM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
listening to lomelda & making slides today, next to this view 🌥️
A bright blue sky with wispy clouds above a deep green canopy of trees and telephone wires. A few buildings in the distance lit by sunlight.
November 16, 2024 at 9:06 AM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
joined a free poetry workshop from @sundresspub.bsky.social this morning! i got to write and shape a poem about the blue plastic frog i keep on my desk 💙
I'm holding a paper booklet with the words "SPACE ADVENTURE! November 14, 2024" written on the cover, and a small blue plastic frog. He's smiling and is very cute. Green and yellow lights flurry on my laptop screensaver in the background.
November 14, 2024 at 1:29 AM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
📌 with alt text

hi! my name's aylli and i'm a transmasc poet from the philippines! looking to connect with the #writingcommunity on this app 🌾

here are two #poems of mine that appeared in en*gendered lit and verdant journal earlier this year 🍀

🐎 ayllicortez.wordpress.com
Edifying My Tboy Swag Shirt loose in men's bathrooms, I fake handwashing when I hear the door open. Your entry is my alarm but I want more than anything for it to be distant thunder—a Brian Eno album —September noons that curb the sticky unbearable air I can't be naked to. These day-old dishes in the sink. I too want removal that restores to pristine states, not cleanliness but to be the clean way men glance in passing. See, the phallic shaped stain on my ceiling is a joke from God, my middle-school seatmate, though we've long since departed I still laugh knowing boys will never outgrow that phase that maybe one can grow into. Last I checked: the GoGo Xpress will deliver my ready-made fountain for 500 pesos. I prepare warnings in view of the rider— Handle carelessly; Recede with caution; Keep dry until it asks to become a soft, wet paste. I don't want the package necessarily but the membership would be nice. Your mailing list of secret unlocked gazes, eyes whose double doors let both lights in. Listen. I don't want you to let me leave. Today, we're swimming in a pool underwater. Tomorrow, we'll piss in it. Move on to the next shallow bathing. When we shout from either end of an evaporating lake, our signals will be ambient interrupting— yours and my real hands, pulling through the same exit sign, wrapping the towel around my waist while no one says anything. To Bear Well When my mother cuts my hair, she holds my life in her hands. Cradles it as she lifts the scissors to my temple and snips close to the skin. This is the dream where I cannot lie. Where I greet her touch with no resistance. She asks me to straighten my back and I do. To raise my chin and I can. The hairs fall away like bits of paper from a snowflake a child makes. Is proud of. What's left has become art by virtue of having been made. In the mirror, my reflection is material. Everything else is light.
November 13, 2024 at 4:43 PM
1159cowboy.bsky.social
not the best quiz but kinda floored by my result :0 this describes how i wrote in college but i've closed that chapter & i think life will be different now!
November 1, 2024 at 12:14 PM