Patron Saints of Nothing: This Poem is a Typhoon Summary & Analysis

After dinner, Jay sits in Jun’s former room at Tita Chato’s house and looks at the stuff Jun had left behind, including a guitar pick and some books. It’s all junk, but Jay feels like there’s a code in it. He goes to bed and wakes up a few hours later. Because he can’t fall back to sleep, he practices with the Tagalog book he brought with him, but his pronunciation feels off. Jay is mad that his parents never tried to teach him Tagalog. When he was little, learning Tagalog wouldn’t have been an “identity crisis.”

Jay begins to text Mia the updates about Jun but hesitates, thinking it might be inappropriate to text her after midnight when she has a boyfriend. He thinks back on a girl in his advanced placement chemistry class last year. They used to study together regularly, and Jay was sure that he loved her. He asked her to prom, but she turned him down. Jay realizes that he’s as comfortable with Mia as he was with that girl, even though he just met Mia. She’s probably not interested at all, but he needs her help, so he sends the text anyways.

While he waits for a response, Jay reads a poem by Audre Lorde from one of Jun’s books. He imagines Jun reading the poem to him and asking what Jay thinks, not like a teacher but like he actually wants to know. Jay feels sad about Jun’s death all over again and flips to the next poem. He finds a business card for a bookstore tucked in the book. Mia responds to Jay’s text, and he tells her about the card, saying they should check out the store. She agrees and says that she’ll visit Jay tomorrow. Jay reads more poems, including one called “A Litany for Survival.” He’s stunned by it, calling the poem a “typhoon.”