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Books by Elsa Valmidiano

Welcome to Slicing Tomatoes

Slicing tomatoes is one of the earliest differences I noticed between my mother and myself, a skill of precision not immediately passed down from her to me, nor from her own mother to herself. Believe me, I’ve tried, but the precision of slicing tomatoes—I’m convinced—only belongs to my mother. There are things, like slicing tomatoes, we simply learn on our own, originating from some inexplicable place within ourselves.

Slicing Tomatoes features poems and prose, stemming from that inexplicable place, maybe unearthing itself from somewhere deep in the DNA, from an ancestor who was a storyteller, an ancestor who yearned to be a storyteller, an ancestor who told stories through different mediums, outside of the written word, like in the secret code of how she sliced tomatoes.

Under the Collaborations tab, you will find poetry/prose and art collaborations with Filipina artists hailing not just from the Motherland but the United States, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Dubai, along with guest featured non-Filipina artists, all of whom you can read more about on the Featured Artists page.

Any questions about this site can be directed to the Contact page. I look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for stopping by.