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Buy: Brutal Companion by Ruben Quesada | OCTOBER 15, 2024 | BARROW STREET PRESS ISBN: 978-1-962131-03-2 | $18.00 Which living poet/writer had the most influence on your book? D.A. Powell has had the most influence on  Brutal Companion . His work, notably his trilogy, has had a significant impact on my approach to writing about queer experiences and the junction of personal and political issues. There’s a poetic beauty that cleaves reality that has encouraged me to achieve a similar balance in my work. I’m drawn to poets who demonstrate attention to similar social concerns as my own, but perhaps more importantly, poetry with rhythm and sound with particular attention to detail for the natural world and the perspective it offers.  Over the past decade, I’ve been voraciously reading contemporary poetry and there is so much to draw from these days. If I had to share poets whose use of rhythm and sound most resonated with me–Diane Mehta, Sean Thomas Dougherty, and Philip Metres. The nature of expression in the work of Mai Der Vang, Anthony Cody, and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal is exciting. I could go on… Which non-living poet/writer had the most influence on your book? The late Paul Monette had a significant effect on this collection. His visceral, unembellished depictions of love and loss during the AIDS crisis in works such as Love Alone: 18 Elegies for Rog  influenced my approach to writing about grief, sexuality, and the complexity of identity. What is your favorite line(s) in your book? It is difficult to choose, but I particularly like these lines from the poemtry "Aubade:” "In the dark, I listen, now resigned, you mumble about the arms of pinyon pine, saying it points to a falling star against the serrated pool of sky." These lines encapsulate a sense of intimacy and cosmic wonder, which I strive for in most of my work. What are the primary themes in your book? Brutal Companion  probes multiple linked topics, including identity, loss and grief, the complexities of intimate connections, and the need for connection in an often hostile society. How has authoring this book changed you? Writing Brutal Companion  was a deeply transforming experience. It compelled me to address traumatic memories and feelings, particularly those involving loss and identity. The process of drafting these poems enabled me to have a better understanding of my experiences and how larger cultural and historical frameworks informed them. It also strengthened my trust in poetry's ability to express complicated feelings and experiences that would otherwise go unheard. Did this work have any influence from another art form? Visual art, especially painting, has had a considerable impact on this collection. Several poems, such as "Oath of the Horatii" and "Angels in the Sun," include direct references to specific artworks. The ekphrastic approach offered possibilities to explore emotional and thematic terrain. When I first conceived of this book, I received a grant for travel to museums around the country that allowed me first-hand experience for further ekphrastic writing.  Instead of imitation, the goal is to have an association with the original piece and make something that stands on it while also casting light on elements of the original material. We use public images and videos in creative ways when I teach ekphrasis. My process usually includes inspecting the original work and analyzing it, then using both literal and figurative language when speaking about that experience. Something that strikes a chord with me could be a subject, the imagery, the rhythm, or a single line. After that, I allow my thoughts and experiences to mix with the main idea of the original work.  The goal is to make a multilayered piece that pays tribute to the original and adds something new to the conversation about the arts. I figure out what is remarkable about the piece that interests me—is it the language, the images, or the feelings that are hidden beneath the surface? This is where I begin.  I spent two years visiting museums around the country and in Europe. It began by flying to Los Angeles, where I was able to visit my mom. Then it was a daily visit to museums in the area: the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Getty Villa in Malibu. Then, I went north to San Francisco, where its pub parks and artwork most inspired me. I visited the de Young Museum of Fine Art and Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museums; I shared an afternoon in Dolores Park with a friend.  In the second year, over one week, I traveled to Spain, where I visited the Reina Sofía, Prado, and Picasso art museums. On to Italy, where I visited palazzi and libraries in Bologna then in Venice, I arrived in time for Carnevale. Before returning home, I spent a day in Berlin at the Topography of Terror and Museum Island. I wish I could do all that again with more time.  What was the motivation for this collection of work? The impulse for Brutal Companion  stemmed from a desire to investigate and confront personal and collective traumas. My private and public life are intertwined and mutually influential to my work. In sharing this deeply personal narrative, I aim not for sympathy but for empathy—a bridge of understanding between my experience and the collective. The U.S. health crisis, intimate relationships, and the desire to belong are all central to this motivation.  One year after moving to Chicago, I was ready to begin a new chapter of my life. I was going to get involved with extraordinary poetry and teaching programs in the city. It was the start of August. I was turning forty, changing careers, recently single, and then diagnosed with HIV.  There I was, poised at the intersection of multiple transitions, my body in distress through what I initially dismissed as mere allergies. I’m allergic to everything outdoors (grass, trees, & flowers). After two weeks, the symptoms took a turn for the worse. For the rest of the month, I slept only a few hours at a time.  Those August days were rough. The fever hit me hard, messing with my body and my mind. It felt like I was stuck in some weird, hazy dream. Even though I felt awful, I kept thinking about my new teaching job and my upcoming birthday. It was like life was saying, "Hey, I'm still moving forward whether you're ready or not.  The fever kept getting worse until one day, I just knew something was seriously wrong with my body. I managed to call my neighbor for help. She came over, let herself in, and called 911. It was intense. I don’t know how I managed it, dealing with being so sick while also trying to hold onto the good stuff coming up in my life. It took me years to adapt, losing work and breaking commitments along the way. I wish I’d managed it differently, but context doesn’t always matter.  “Love moves me and makes me speak,” said Dante. It took another few years before I finally settled in Chicago, months before the COVID-19 lockdown. I moved in with my now fiancé.  The transitional nature of my life has made me resilient, for better or worse. The poems I wrote sat around for more than a decade. I never sent them out. Most were written when I first moved to Chicago. They celebrate life, recognize its loss, and find a way to reconcile what has passed. My love of language motivated me, and life kept me writing.  Are you working on a new project? Could you tell us a little about it? Yes, I am now working on a new poetry collection about the intersection of technology and human emotion. I am particularly interested in how artificial intelligence and digital environments are changing our perceptions of identity, relationships, and creativity. The project's goal is to combine parts of speculative poetry with more classic lyric genres to establish a conversation between the human and the technical. It is still taking shape, but I am excited to see where this journey takes me. Ruben Quesada ’s latest poetry collection, Brutal Companion , winner of the Barrow Street Press Editors Prize, published October 15, 2024. He edited the anthology Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry, which won an Independent Publisher Book Award in 2023. Quesada’s work appears in prestigious publications including Seneca Review , American Poetry Review , the Best American Poetry series, Harvard Review , and The New York Times Magazine . Quesada has received fellowships from the Jentel Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Community of Writers, Napa Valley Writers’, and CantoMundo.

Buy: Luna Inmigrante by Virginia Bulacio | Alegría Publishing | June 27, 2023 Personalized signed copies with stickers, copies available on writer’s website What living poet/writer had the biggest influence on your book? I came to the United States during my high school years, and I joined an E.S.L class (English as a Second Language). One of my teachers, Miss Ritvo, shared the book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Some days, Miss Ritvo would read the book to us and other days, she would play the audiobook for us. It was illuminating to follow the book and Cisneros' words while reading the stories. I was transported to another time. In my imagination I would travel back to my small town in the north of Argentina. I felt connected to Cisneros' novel and the main character, Esperanza. I remember feeling like the writer would understand me. I carry those stories close to me, it’s a reminder of where I come from. Sandra Cisneros inspired me at a young age to create stories, bilingual stories para nuestra comunidad. Her work continues to inspire me today and I hope one day I can share Luna Inmigrante with her. How did your relationship with your family influence your writing? My relationship with my family has influenced my writing. I think they helped me understand in a way our immigrant journey. Some of the experiences we faced earlier in the journey later became a poem or reflection in my book. Those poems or reflections helped me to see our stories from different points of view, as the voice of an immigrant, what really matters in our heart. Luna Inmigrante is dedicated to mi familia and my friends who qualified for DACA, and those friends who did not, people I would see on the bus on a daily basis, workers and activists who joined rallies during Labor Day. They have influenced me each day and inspired this poetry collection, as we are one family, from the point of view of Luna Inmigrante. How did writing this book transform you? Luna Inmigrante has helped me understand that our stories are all connected, therefore my poems reflect that we are all part of everyone’s journey. Writing my book allowed me to heal, channel and transform that pain in energy in motion, within each line of poetry in Luna Inmigrante. With time, I am realizing Luna Inmigrante is here to transform us, heal us, grow together, and celebrate our stories and where we come from. I think transformation comes from healing, and each story represents a voice in our community, showing our diversity and honoring our stories. Did another artform influence this work? Painting, music, dancing, etc. I would like to say motherhood is an artform. I think becoming a new mom in the pandemic inspired me to share my work with others. Motherhood gave me the strength to share my work, and hopefully inspire other writers to do the same. When my son was a newborn, I would take him on walks and I would pay close attention to the details he would see, the texture and colors of plants, our shadows, the petals of roses, as he would show excitement by moving his little hands so fast like an orchestra director. And to me that was a new artform, a new way of expression that I carry in my poetry. All these magical moments with him influenced me to create a new way of writing. Outside of writing, what are some of your passions or hobbies? Photography, photojournalism, taking Polaroids, the beauty of capturing a moment as it is, without any editing, this has been a passion project. Either I am on a walk or playing with my son outside, watching the clouds, waiting for the sunset, I enjoy taking photographs, seeing my son growing up, and documenting time. Photography is an artform that inspires my creativity, and it allows me to experiment with time and light. If you could have a dinner party with anyone living or dead, who would it be and why? What would you serve for dinner? The first person that came to my mind was mi abuelo. He was like my father to me. I would probably serve empanadas Argentinas, maybe he can teach me how to make an Argentine Parrillada (Argentinian bbq) like the ones he used to make when I was growing up. Years after I moved to the United States, he passed away. I did not have a chance to say goodbye or thank him for taking care of me when I was little. This dinner would be like a reunion to honor him and show him my gratitude. Virginia Bulacio is an Argentinean writer, educator, and storyteller. She immigrated to the United States during her high school years. Virginia holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a Minor in Spanish Language Journalism from California State University, Northridge. Her mission in teaching is to share her passion about culture, storytelling, and poetry. She is teaching subjects such as Spanish and Photography at a school in which the mission is to help the student emotionally, socially, and academically through positivity and mentoring. Virginia lives in Los Angeles with her family, and you would probably find her at a coffee shop looking for a story.

Buy: El Rey of Gold Teeth Watch: El Rey of Gold Teeth (ASMR?) Unboxing Hub City Press | ISBN: 9798885740197 | $16.00 | Oct. 3, 2023 What living poet/writer had the biggest influence on your book? I was lucky to have worked with Eduardo C. Corral for El Rey of Gold Teeth after he graciously took on some mentees for their poetry collections. I’d learned so much from him from Slow Lightning, a book that opened me to new dimensions of craft and language ever since I read it in college. He really pushed me to place my poems into different containers, to let them become the best versions of themselves through individual forms that couldn’t exist otherwise. Can you talk about your use of form and theory? As a writer, the tools for my craft encompass language in all its forms, as many as I can play within as possible. As such, I write fiction, poetry, essays, and more to find my limitations and liberties. I firmly believe that form and content cannot be separated, so whenever I choose a form for which my language can be expressed best for that project, I have to be very certain that that was the best container for the project at the time. As in, my first book, a collection of short stories, exists because those thoughts and languages could only be expressed that way. One story in that collection takes the form of a court document filed on Mars that appropriates legal language for fiction, a regular practice in American politics; that was my way of playing with that form to say what I wanted to say. However, that’s not to say that this latest book, a collection of poetry, does not explore similar themes or subjects, but that the poetry allowed me to access new ways of looking at the same thing. In my experience, forms are merely conduits for language and thus should be thought of as facilitators and not funnels. For example, if a short story cannot cover everything you want to do within a given project, then try it as a poem since poetry is not bound by the sentence insomuch as the line. If a poem isn’t working, then try an essay as the essay can allow the writer the tools to show one’s math, so to speak, more smoothly, such as through citations or digressions or thought process (at least for me). In El Rey of Gold Teeth, there’s a poem in the form of a translation of a broken turtle’s shell as I was fascinated by the fact that species of turtles all have the same number of plates that comprise their shells, like the red eared slider’s 13 scutes. Thus, I wanted to explore the red eared slider’s shell as an ancestral inheritance, that it was telling them something about their past that they carried but could not see alone. Moreso, it is a ‘translation’ of a broken shell, further fragmenting the history in which they carry, making such a history even more illegible to human language, further complicating the notion of inheriting history and language across languages and contexts. In that way, the red eared slider’s shell becomes a historical document and a textual embodiment of the immigrant experience. I honestly don’t believe any other form that piece could have taken as fiction or essay or what have you often have linear progressions bound by the sentence. The poem, for me, allowed me to clunkily sing what I could not directly say as efficiently and playfully. What is your current obsession? Short lines, slant rhymes, couplets, trees, etc. My current obsession for my poetry is establishing a form for a poem and running it into the ground by continuously writing in it until I break all its rules. In that way, I find the form’s first limitation for me and know what to indulge in the new form that sprouts from the former. In this case, it’s the use of a single stanza to fill the expanse of a page, mainly through line spacing and generous line breaks to make the scarce seem abundant, to make the reader slow down as to not get dizzy or lost in the language. In a way, the poems are becoming more visual in how they occupy the white space of a page, how the form embodies the content in ways I couldn’t see at first, like carving words into the marble of the page. How did writing this book transform you? This book really let me see how badass poetry truly is. Like, how awesome it is to play with language in such a way as to explore its power and violence and joy. Writing this book gave me the power to share my love for my people, my city, my community in ways that either make people proud of themselves and what we share or to look at what we have in new ways. This book let me navigate my given and learned languages however I wanted. For example, I have a poem in the form of a pulga; I can’t wait for readers to engage with that piece and share in the beauty of something so normal yet so wondrously human. My first book let me see myself as a published author who is contributing to a larger conversation; this book that let me become the writer I’ve always wanted to be. That is, the kind of writer that will always take something and run it as far as it can go in that moment. This book transformed me into a full writer on my terms, into someone whose lot in this life is to write and share stories and ways to play with what we’ve been given. I couldn’t be more thankful. What role does the poet play in the 21st century? A giant influence on my writing is Tomás Rivera, especially his book …y no se lo tragó la tierra. There’s a short passage in the book that briefly tells of a poet who travels between migrant worker camps to sell them poetry, tailoring them to local communities by including their names. The poet provides instructions to his customers, telling them: “…to read the poems out loud because the spoken word was the seed of love in the darkness.” It was there that I learned that the writer gives their community the language to find each other in times of darkness, to share love even when the world makes it harder to see the light. In that way, the poet gives each member of their community the ability to become a beacon of love. For me, the poet in the 21st century carries on that tradition of taking language and sharing it amongst their communities to give them the power to speak, now more than ever when language is being obfuscated, used for violence, and facilitating oppression and division on a more massive scale than ever. My role is to tell you that love is real and that there is no singular use for language. We can use language to see a better reality than the one we currently have. When you read my work, I hope you see that language is something we can play with to process our histories towards a healing. That language is “the seed of love in the darkness.” Outside of writing, what are some of your passions or hobbies? Too many! But one passion that I’m enjoying lately is my curatorial practice, how I capture the thoughts and languages I can’t process through my writing (yet) but through organizing. I curated and launched a virtual exhibition in 2022 titled The Houston Artist Speaks Through Grids where I noticed many Houston artists of color of various backgrounds and practices using grids in their artwork. I curated the exhibition to put said artworks in conversation with the political, historical, and pedestrian to try and see how the grid, a conduit of colonialism, can be appropriated by the creative imagination by and for marginalized communities. The exhibition is free and accessible in English and Spanish. In 2023, I curated and launched a series titled The Pylon Project in conjunction with The Houston Artist Speaks Through Grids where I invited artists and writers to play with the icon of the pylon sign, those big signs you see alongside strip malls and/or shopping centers that list their contents. These pylon signs permeate throughout Houston’s grids of streets, particularly unique as Houston has no traditional zoning laws, often placing things together that can complement and/or clash with each other. That too is free to visit online but also has a limited print run featuring each essay as a zine. In 2024, I’ll be making another addition to the exhibition which I won’t say what it is yet. The point being, it’s really cool to work on something that grows with you yet has a foundation upon which to build, all of which is accessible and updated as you explore it more and more. The exhibition, then, is a conduit for aesthetic growth and organizing facilitated by visual language that I hope to one day turn into an exhibition catalog in book form. Do you have any advice for new and emerging writers? Is there anything you wish you knew? As a writer, you can do whatever you want. For real. Throughout my writing career, whether it be the workshop or the editorial process, I’ve been told what I could or couldn’t do. But when I was told to not do something, that’s when I knew I had to keep it. It’s your work. Your craft. Your life. Do whatever you want. Please. What are you currently reading? I’ve been reading a lot of nonfiction lately to help me with my own process, including: Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s by Tiffany Midge; From Threatening Guerillas to Forever Illegals by Yajaira M. Padilla; How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon; Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino; I Can’t Date Jesus by Michael Arceneaux; Go Ahead in the Rain by Hanif Abdurraqib; and Undrowned by Alexis Pauline Gumbs. Do you have a new project that you’re working on? Could you tell us a bit about it? My next project is a collection of essays that focus on pop culture as a nation building exercise and practice, ranging from film to video games to natural disasters to beer to music to art to anime and much more. I think this collection will allow me to show my thought process in a different way, especially in making connections across various topics. For example, how does the depiction of football in American cinema connect to my navigation of Hurricane Harvey? How does drinking beer connect to the immigrant experience? You’ll have to read and find out! Other than that, I have a rotation of poems and stories and art criticisms and a novel that I work on at various intervals when the essays become too narrowing. I’ve also become a married man lately, so I’m always working on being a better husband. Reyes Ramirez (he/him) is a Houstonian, writer, educator, curator, and organizer of Mexican and Salvadoran descent. He authored the short story collection The Book of Wanderers (2022), a 2023 Young Lions Fiction Award Finalist, from University of Arizona Press’ Camino del Sol series and the poetry collection El Rey of Gold Teeth (2023) from Hub City Press. Reyes has been honored as a 2020 CantoMundo Fellow, 2021 Interchange Artist Grant Fellow, 2022 Crosstown Arts Writer in Residence, 2023 Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, 2023 Dobie Paisano Fellow, and others.

Buy: Syndrome by Éric Morales-Franceschini | Anhinga Press | January 1, 2024 | 96 pgs. | $20 | ISBN: 9781934695814 What living poet/writer had the biggest influence on your book? If I had to pick only one, it’d have to be Craig Santos Perez, which is to say, his from unincorporated territory series; it’s a kindred project, thematically, pedagogically, and politically, if not stylistically. It’s uncanny just how many grievances and peculiarities Guam and Puerto Rico share, each knowing well the enigma that is “commonwealth” status and what it means to feel “small.” I came to his work somewhat belatedly, after having already written a draft of Syndrome, but it quickly became an interlocutor of mine, a fellow traveler I could turn to in times of uncertainty, outrage, or grief. Other honorable mentions would go to J. Michael Martinez’s Museum of the Americas, heidi andrea restrepo rhodes’ The Inheritance of Haunting, and the obras of Ada Limón and Daniel Borzutzky—whether for their vitality or virtuosity. What non-living poet/writer had the biggest influence on your book? I’d answer this two ways. First off, there’s the work of Mahmoud Darwish, who, as a Palestinian poet, writes with a collective urgency and forlorn history that I, as a Boricua, can’t help but find beautiful and resonant.  Eduardo Galeano’s Memory of Fire trilogy, which is difficult to classify, is easily one of the most stunning works I’ve ever read—at least in its original Spanish (i.e. can’t vouch for the English translation!); he and that project are a referent for me. But the truth is, many of my biggest influences come from studies in history, psychoanalysis, political economy, theology, and critical theory. I’ll go months where all I read are in these “non-literary” fields, without which my poetry would be far less analytically acute—less politically dangerous, too. In this respect, Marx, Freud, and Fanon rank amongst the most influential. What are some key themes present in your book? No doubt, militarism, racism, and colonialism are decidedly at stake, they and their psychical repercussions.  The notion of a syndrome is not, after all, purely metaphorical. “Puerto Rican Syndrome” was the name for what was considered a culturally unique nervous disorder. Psychoanalyst Patricia Gherovici has pointed out that its symptoms are strikingly similar to classical hysteria, with schizophrenic complications, and argues that its best understood as an idiom of protest against a psychologically unbearable situation, namely coloniality of power. Syndrome reckons with this and other “disorders,” like impostor syndrome (for those of us in the diaspora) and Stockholm syndrome (for those of us coerced to identify with our captor), and with major cultural referents, such as West Side Story, Hamilton, and the Columbus monument in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, the largest monument to Columbus in the world! In fact, it’s the largest monument (base included) in the western hemisphere, larger than Rio’s El Salvador and New York’s Statue of Liberty. Does that not speak volumes!? What’s your favorite line(s) from your book? That’s easy, the epigraphs!  I won’t give them all away, but here are a few of my favorites: Fuera de tu canción soy ala seca, Julia de Burgos; To whom shall we sing when salt poisons the dew?, Mahmoud Darwish; Que la historia huya de los museos y respire a pleno pulmón, Eduardo Galeano. None of my words can rival these in their depth and beauty, but maybe I’ll take some credit for the selections and where they’re placed! That said, if I had to choose my own line, I’d go with the final line: Our work here is not done.  At the risk of sounding overly dramatic (or just quintessentially Boricua!), that line comes with the cumulative weight of not only 33 poems but also 500 years of (de)colonial history. If you could organize a reading with any writers living or dead, who would be in the lineup? Where would you host the event? I love this question. And do forgive me if this comes across as coy, but Che Guevara. Fidel famously eulogized Che not as a heroic guerrilla or revolutionary cadre inasmuch as a poet. By that criterion, I’d invite Queen Nanny of the Jamaican marrons, Rosa la Bayamesa of the Cuban mambises, Tupca Amaru of the Inca, and Emiliano Zapata of Mexican glory. The guest of honor would, however, be Toussaint L’Ouverture, that world-historic Haitian revolutionary, and the event would take place outside the frigid Fort-de-Joux prison in France where Toussaint was left to die, his remains unceremoniously and secretly buried.  I’d like to hear it from their mouths, their poetry, neither mythologized nor demonically caricatured.  Afterwards, we’d have a Catholic priest and Vodou priestess officiate Toussaint’s last rites and burial. Che, whose remains weren’t exhumed and properly buried until the mid-1990s, would give the eulogy. What would they say, in retrospect and in verse? Do you have a new project that you’re working on? Could you tell us a bit about it? Yes, my new project was inspired by the summer of 2020, that ecstatic summer when so many Columbus statues in the US were, as it were, “decommissioned.” Syndrome finishes with what I call an “anti-ekphrastic” poem about that colossal Columbus monument in Puerto Rico, but I feel the need to delve deeper into Columbus (counter)memorials across history and throughout the Americas. This has taken a fair amount of research. I draw on papal decrees, travelogues, court cases, epic poems, paintings, and sculptures and on indigenous, Black, and populist rebuttals. For this project, documentary poetics, (anti)ekphrasis, odes, and prose poetry are my expressive tactics of choice. With some luck, I’ll finish it this year! Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Tampa, Florida, Éric Morales-Franceschini is a former construction worker, US Army veteran, and community college graduate who now holds a PhD from UC, Berkeley and is Associate Professor of English and Latin American Studies at the University of Georgia. He is author of the chapbook Autopsy of a Fall (Newfound 2021), winner of the Gloria Anzaldúa Poetry Prize, and the scholarly study The Epic of Cuba Libre: The Mambí, Mythopoetics, and Liberation (University of Virginia Press, 2022), winner of the MLA’s Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize.  Syndrome, selected by Juan Felipe Herrera for the 2022 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry, is his debut full-length collection.

Buy: Consider the Rooster by Oliver Baez Bendorf | Nightboat Books| September 10, 2024 | ISBN: 9781643622385 What are some key themes present in your book? Consider the Rooster explores nature, nurture, rebellion, and transformation within the context of queer ecological thought. It’s about searching for a sense of home and self in a fraught world, amidst the impacts of colonialism, capitalism, and transphobia. At the same time, I wanted to portray a vision where, despite systemic violence and environmental peril, joy persists… expression persists… care persists. The poems dwell in the interconnectedness of all living things, as a source of guidance and strength. They also navigate the necessity of resistance and the continuous path of becoming. I hope the book encourages readers to honor not only their own neighborhood rooster, but also the rooster within. Can you describe the environment(s) where you wrote your book? I wrote Consider the Rooster in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on the native land of the Potawatomi people. My writing environment included an ever-evolving garden, where I grew a wildflower meadow and kept chickens. The crowing of my pet rooster, Walter, woke something up in me, inspiring the book’s themes. This period was also pandemic quarantine, widespread demonstrations against police brutality, and major societal upheaval. Complaints on the basis of the city's stringent grass height regulations and the rooster added to the tension. That summer of CantoMundo teach-in’s (virtual, of course) inspired me and raised my consciousness. These experiences, along with my academic work and the broader political dumpster fire, shaped what became this book’s awakening to alternatives. Writing from that contentious yet blooming environment allowed me to go deeply into these questions of peace and belonging– who is permitted such things, and where, and at what (whose) cost? The book mirrors the perpetual motion that I’ve come to know as one characteristic of trans life under the United States now as we seek ever safer ground. What’s your favorite line(s) from your book? Here are a few of my favorite lines: “When the song crashed into glass as invisible waves / at last I began to vibrate.” (from “Becoming Particulate”) “I step out / to the deck in my trans masc robe / because in the end, no one will / remember. All that I’ve named / has a life outside of me.” (from “All I Have is the Woods Inside My Head”) “Who reminds all in earshot that like it or not another day has come and gone.” (from the title poem, “Consider the Rooster”) “I’m done being good!” (from the poem “Michigan”) Outside of writing, what are some of your passions or hobbies? When I’m not writing, I love drawing, painting, playing basketball, watching basketball, talking about basketball, and doing jigsaw puzzles. I find solace and inspiration in colors, shapes, patterns, statistics, the stories behind statistics, making, and movement. Going for walks is another favorite activity, as it gets me fresh air and helps create a rhythm for things to happen. I also love catching up on the group chat with my coven. How did you get into writing? Can you pinpoint a memory where it all began for you? Born and raised in Iowa City, it could be in the water. My parents brought my sister and I to the public library frequently, and I was allowed to check out as many books as I could personally carry. I clutched towering stacks of them, from comics to chapter books. Also, I was a young keeper of sketchbooks, which taught me early the pleasure of keeping a notebook. I loved to draw, especially haunted houses. More than anything specific I drew, it was this practice of turning toward the page that began it for me. Reading was my other true friend. That and basketball. Have I changed at all? I love rhythm and repetition on a visceral level. So, yes, poetry sings to me. Even now though, I go in and out of writing. Language sometimes moves away from me and comes back when it wants to. So it is almost like I’m beginning again all the time. What are you currently reading? I’m currently reading Have You Been Long Enough at Table by Leslie Sainz, which recently was awarded the Publishing Triangle’s Audre Lorde Award. It’s an immersive, insightful exploration of what it means to be a Cuban American woman. As a collection of poems, it stands out for me because of its resonant voice and innovative forms. A few additional books I’ve been keeping nearby recently: Faltas by Cecilia Gentili, Poem Bitten By a Man by Brian Teare, Listen to the Golden Boomerang Return by CAConrad, Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear by Mosab Abu Toha, and Song of My Softening by Omotara James. Do you have a new project that you’re working on? Could you tell us a bit about it? I’m over the moon that Consider the Rooster is coming out this September. This book is an offering to the idea that we can transform the landscapes of our lives into the ones we dream about. I'm excited to learn about how readers connect with its poems. Looking ahead, I’m working on a manuscript tentatively titled what to do w/ this freedom. This collection asks what it truly means to be free. Oliver Baez Bendorf is the author of Consider the Rooster, forthcoming from Nightboat Books in September 2024, and two previous collections of poems: Advantages of Being Evergreen and The Spectral Wilderness. He has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Publishing Triangle, CantoMundo, Lambda Literary, Vermont Studio Center, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. His poems have been featured across various anthologies including Best American Poetry, Latino Poetry: A New Anthology, and Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics. Born and raised in Iowa, he now lives along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado.

Buy: Yaguareté White Univ. of Arizona Press Feb. 20, 2024 What living poet/writer had the biggest influence on your book? Rigoberto González. Hands down, full stop. As a writer, teacher, mentor, and friend, Rigo has helped dozens and dozens (hundreds?) of emerging poets find their voice, navigate the business of poetry, and land on their feet. I consider myself lucky to be counted among them. What’s your favorite line(s) from your book? This morning, my favorite lines consist of twelve tiny syllables tucked into a tidy tercet that comprises the shortest poem in the book, “Yuyos”: cashew for good measure cayenne and petunias Yuyos are traditional herbs added to beverages for their medicinal or flavorful qualities. The words “cashew,” “cayenne,” and “petunia” all derive from Tupí, from which contemporary Guaraní evolved. I like to imagine sprinkling each ingredient into a cauldron to make a cacophonous broth of leaves and bark, flowers and language. I hope readers enjoy the concoction, as well. What is your current obsession? Short lines, slant rhymes, couplets, trees, etc. I’ve long been interested in inconsistency, contradiction, and asymmetry. These traits have defined my experiences of Latinidad—as someone who didn’t grow up speaking Spanish or with a Latinx community, but who nevertheless visited Paraguay every few years for months at a time—and it feels unavoidable that I seek these haphazard imbalances in poetry I read and write. This will sound funny, but I’m especially pleased with the Table of Contents for Yaguareté White. The list includes many poems with one or two-word titles, but is then punctuated by these long, gangly titles that sprawl awkwardly across the page. I like that a lot. In life, I’m drawn to stability, security, and predictability. I think my aesthetic preferences counterbalance those risk-averse impulses. I love poems that expand and cinch wildly, or wiggle and zig-zag all over. It feels so wild and fun and free. William Carlos Williams is synonymous with plums. If you had to choose one fruit and one animal/plant/celestial body that would forever remind people of you, what would you choose and why? The fruit is easy, but I’m gonna cheat and choose two: pineapple cut with jalapeño (*technically* fruta tambien). I’m a sucker for heat paired with sweet, like I cannot get enough of it. My preferred spiciness level is “bordering on regret.” On pizza, in Thai food, my salsa, throw peach, mango, or piña in with the hottest pepper you can find. That’s my jam. As for an animal, plant, or celestial body, the jaguar seems like an obvious choice, since it’s both native to Paraguay and an important part of Guaraní cosmology. But I’m gonna go with jurumí, the giant anteater, which makes an appearance in the book. They are so wide and strange looking, but I’ve yet to see one in the wild for real. What role does the poet play in the 21st century? I look around and wonder, rather, what roles don't poets play in the world today? I see so many poets engaged in unique, important work. We lead vital arts organizations, like Ricardo Maldonado at the Academy of American Poets or Jacqueline Balderrama, Norma E. Cantú, Willie Perdomo, and Pablo Miguel Martínez at CantoMundo. We edit major literary publications, like Carmen Giménez at Graywolf or Javier O. Huerta and León Salvatierra at Huizache. We engage literally millions of followers, like Yung Pueblo, Rudy Francisco, and others. We serve our communities in so many ways. Jordan Pérez helps protect children at the nonprofit Safe from Online Sex Abuse (SOSA) and has featured on the TV show Undercover Underage. Kinsale Drake founded the NDN Girls Book Club and has been recognized by Time magazine for her efforts. Antonio de Jesús López is the new Mayor of East Palo Alto. Name another profession with such breathtaking range and diversity of positions available to its practitioners. This is of course not to mention our many roles as teachers, organizers, and activists. As intellectuals and artists. As students and parents, siblings and children. As neighbors and bystanders, as strangers and future friends. In the end, I believe we are caretakers, of language, of each other, of the planet. We have to be. Otherwise, what else is there? Diego Báez is a writer, educator, and abolitionist. He is the author of Yaguareté White (Univ. Arizona, 2024). A recipient of fellowships from CantoMundo, the Surge Institute, the Poetry Foundation Incubator for Community-Engaged Poets, and DreamYard’s Rad(ical) Poetry Consortium, Diego has served on the boards of the National Book Critics Circle, the International David Foster Wallace Society, and Families Together Cooperative Nursery School. Poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Freeman's, Poetry Northwest, and Latino Poetry: A New Anthology. Book reviews have appeared at Booklist, Harriet, and The Boston Globe. Diego lives in Chicago and teaches at the City Colleges.

I quickly wrote some haikus about the portraits for my job interview.

day, I might be working on outreach, communicating with partner institutions, setting up readings and interviews poetry reading with invited guest poets, a film screening and discussion, a writing workshop, a live interview

Pre-order: Quererme En La Luz by Farrah Fang Abode Press | April 15, 2024 | ISBN: 979-8-9900598-0-1 How did you get into writing? Can you pinpoint a memory where it all began for you? It started in elementary school. I was very young, six or seven years old. Either my 1st or 2nd grade teacher spoke with the school to move me into Vanguard G/T classes. They saw how fast I was completing my work, how bored I was getting in during lessons and tested me to see if I qualified. Once in the Vanguard program, I had a new teacher. She eventually gave the class an assignment asking us to write a story. It was a free prompt and I wrote about a leprechaun. I think it was inspired by the Lucky Charms cereal I would eat for breakfast as a kid. My teacher adored the story and praised my writing skills. She spoke with the school and they created an assembly for our class to read our stories to some of the students. I remember being on stage in the front of our cafeteria, reading to rows of kids with their legs crossed just staring at me lazily. This was my first time in front of a mic, first time in front of an audience but I don’t remember being scared. In fact, I was going on and on about this leprechaun even adding more sentences that I hadn’t written. I was dramatic even at that age. Ever since then I've had a passion for writing. I wanted to grow up to be an author and eventually an English teacher. The latter dream isn’t something I care about now but I’m proud to call myself a published author. The child in me is screaming at finally having our dream come true. What are some key themes present in your book? This chapbook was written within the past five years and so much has ignited during this span. The latter years of a Trump presidency, the pandemic, the surge of restrictive propaganda and legislation, as well as the rise in murders of trans individuals…all of these subjects have weighed heavy on my soul during the construction of these poems. The conversations streaming within Quererme En La Luz range from being political to nightmarish, from speaking on desirability to talking about overt and subtle violence. This chapbook explores trans philosophy, trans liberation, trans mysticism and sisterhood. I write about how as trans women we get to live in multiple realms, some of brutal realism. Inside other dimensions where we are divine and revered. The text that speaks so confidently and dreamily about our power is not so much a “fake it until you make it” mantra but a legitimate truth. I do hold my community in high regard, as angels and sirens and pioneers but I also recognize the relentless abuse we face. There is the world we are subjected to and then the world we created for ourselves because we had to. My poems advocate that while we can recognize our pain and trauma as having an influence on our character, we can also craft spaces where we can heal, thrive, mesmerize, retaliate, even transform. The setting of Quererme En La Luz revolves around images of gardens and darkness. Trans women are roses basking under moonlight ready to grow and reclaim space where we have typically been denied access. The title of the chapbook is a declaration that we will no longer be regulated to the shadows for the comfort of others. We will no longer exist in silence. We will no longer accept that our love and the ones who love us should be secretive or ashamed. We will never forget where we come from or the ways it has shaped us but we will choose to live authentically, to advocate for our rights as humans, to fight anyone who attempts to eradicate our existence. This chapbook is very upfront about these messages but I do not find it to be intricately hopeful. This is a pessimistic, morose unraveling. The skeleton of Quererme En La Luz is made up of poems speaking on different seasons of a trans woman's life, often invoking the concept of transformation via death. There is a recurring theme of having integral parts of one’s identity killed in order to become the authentic, desired self. This can be done by the individual or it can be a consequence of being trans in a relentlessly violent world. It's intentionally dark and emo because I think ignoring the negative aspects of our lives would be so disingenuous and I naturally gravitate towards those tones. Yes, we shed our cocoon but not all of us transform into butterflies. Quererme En La Luz is about how some people are constantly transforming, from chimeras to mud to a yellow excavator. What are you currently reading? Ocean Vuong’s Time Is a Mother. Ada Limón’s Bright Dead Things. El Rey of Gold Teeth by Reyes Ramirez and Bad Girls by Camila Sosa Villada. Can you describe the environment(s) where you wrote your book? This could be the room, the desk, the city, an MFA program, a fellowship, or any other environmental factor (you only wrote when it rained, you always wrote with fresh flowers in the room, etc.). So much of this chapbook was written in the Northside neighborhood of Houston, where I’ve lived most of my life. I can read certain poems and travel back in time to lounging and loathing in my bedroom, depending on the apartment as I went through so many evictions. Some poems bring me back to sitting at my desk while incense burned, as an episode of Ancient Aliens stirred in the background. Most of Quererme En La Luz was written during the lockdown and the years that followed. I spent a lot of time in my bedroom smoking alone, scribbling into my journal or using Instagram captions as an opportunity to write something compelling. As the pandemic progressed and things started to open up, I took my chihuahua to nearby parks a lot. A good chunk of poems were written at Stude Park, in a spot far away from people so my dog could run around while I wrote about the chemtrails lingering above or the haunting view of the Houston skyline. The environment played a huge role in what I wrote about. It had its own way of bringing out certain emotions and giving them perspective. One poem I think about in particular from the chapbook, called “Worm Moon Ritual”, shifts me back to a particular night in March of last year. I remember walking my chihuahua on auto-pilot, traumatized and half-alive from some harm that occurred a few weeks prior. The full moon was gigantic, orange-red and it was calling me. I would find out later what this particular moon symbolized but in the moment it felt very spiritual. Our conversation felt necessary and therapeutic. The poem would eventually describe this provocation to change myself and the path I was traveling. It was very fitting for my journey. It has been a year since that night and now my chapbook is being published and this poem is a part of it. I take all of those interactions with the world very seriously. What non-living poet/writer had the biggest influence on your book? Her name is Esdras Parra. She was a Venezuelan writer and poet (1937-2004). She was a trans woman just like myself. A friend of mine gave me a book of her poetry, The Collected Poems of Esdras Parra, which was translated by Jamie Berrout. We met up one night in 2021 and he just knew these poems were going to have a great effect on me. I would take this book with me everywhere I went. I vividly remember sitting in the Japanese Garden in Hermann Park, reading her work and feeling so connected to her style and voice. Every poem, although terse, felt so profound and relatable. Este suelo secreto (To be human once more) was a book of poetry included in this collection and that collection of poems in particular is what I felt closest to. Each poem was a prayer, an affirmation, a warning, a song to hum as I walked to my car avoiding the whispers and stares that followed me. Quererme En La Luz is a response to all of these experiences, the transphobic encounters, the simple days reading in the park and all the stale air that filled the gaps between them. Parra’s work reminded me that I was not subhuman during a time when the world was treating me as such. She inspired me to reclaim my divinity as well as my personhood. I needed to hear these words from a trans woman, a creative with her particular sense of self. Her poems were not numerous compared to that of other authors but they definitely shaped how I approached writing this particular chapbook. I even made sure to include an epigraph of hers at the beginning of Quererme En La Luz to honor her influence. What role does the poet play in the 21 st century? We speak truth when the world is on fire. We have to. We create anti-propaganda. Through us history is not forgotten. Poetry is not dead so long as it remains authentic. If poets close their eyes to the world while it is screaming and dying then we have failed. We are the branches that remind people of their roots. We are the waves that crash into your shores, pulling your voice out into the ocean and slamming back with more ferocity, more words that need to be said. As long as there is water, we are never-ending. How did writing this book transform you? Transformation was essentially what Quererme En La Luz was all about. Besides that I think writing it actually made me a better poet. I was very adamant about making this a coherent and accurate portrayal of my artistic capabilities. There was lots of reading involved, lots of editing, and changes employed. This is a debut collection of sorts for me so I wanted to put all of my energy into making it an iconic Farrah Fang piece. It allowed me to really understand what kind of writer I was and could be, what styles I was drawn to, and how I wanted to share my creative voice. I would even say that it affected other forms of art that I was making. So much regarding the philosophy behind Quererme En La Luz was incorporated into my performance art, my digital collages, and even my advocacy. Spiritually, this chapbook acted as a set of warnings, visions, and prayers. These poems were written over the past five years and marked my journey throughout that timeline. I am a very different human being now than I was when I wrote the first poem from this collection. I feel more aligned with spirituality, more attuned to the symbolism and energy behind everything. I come back to these pieces and remember who I was and how far I’ve come. They made me have more of a stake in my future. I was raised Catholic and I’ve been deprogramming from that for years but writing Quererme En La Luz shaped me to be more appreciative of rituals, ancestors, and divinity. When I started to perceive trans identity as having a holy connection, I became more secure. I evolved my interpretation of self-love into something that didn’t feel corny or unrealistic. To me spirituality is connected to that and it felt more tangible as I finished this collection. On a more personal level, during the process of writing this chapbook I think I became more mature and sure of myself. Five years is a long time and I wrote this at a very interesting point of adulthood where I left my 20s and entered my 30s. Quererme En La Luz is something I can turn back to and feel a calming relief, a sense that I’m on the right path. The first poem I ever wrote for this collection resurrected my love for poetry and each step, each poem along the way truly solidified in my soul that I was meant to do this. There are still integral parts of me that will always remain. I’ve always strived to be authentic and unapologetic but now I feel as if it is so ingrained in my behavior that it doesn’t require much effort. I’m a lot happier than I used to be prior to writing this chapbook and I’ve grown to hold onto that feeling as long as possible, to appreciate it when I have it in my embrace. Farrah Fang (she/her) is a Latina trans woman, born and raised in Houston, TX. She is an artist, writer, and the author of the poetry chapbook “Quererme En La Luz '' published by Abode Press. She has poems published by Raspa Magazine and Odessa Collective and work that will soon be published by The Texas Review and Defunkt Magazine.

Maps You Can’t Make Audiobook version available Publisher: June Road Press Release Date: September 5, 2023 Link for purchase for paperback and audiobook How did your relationship with your family influence your writing? My mother encouraged my writing. Since I learned to write, I have been journaling and writing free-verse poetry. My family emigrated to the U.S. in 1994 from Peru, and as can be expected with such a big move, my parents struggled financially and in their relationship, along with adjustment to life in the U.S. Since I experienced feelings intensely, my go-to was always writing. To process difficult parts of life, I wrote. I wrote about my parents. The fights. I wrote about being undocumented. I wrote about my love stories. I wrote about how I felt stuck. I wrote about how my family, despite our flaws, was united and uniquely here. How did writing this book transform you? It helped me to separate myself from my work. I did it, it’s done, I am separate from it. The editing process, and trusting someone to read and provide edits to my work was a vulnerable process. Once I adjusted to it, it became easier and I enjoyed the feedback and finetuning. Editing is the fun part. Fun and hard. Writing is the catharsis. What was the impetus for this body of work? The opportunity presented itself. I saw an open call for submissions by June Road Press (the editor and publisher is a fellow Bread Loaf School of English alum!) and knew that I had to submit a selection of my work. The hard part was coming up with the courage to actually write the email and select the poems. I knew that once I had those two things lined up, the universe would help as needed. My goal was to accomplish that. Everything after that was done step-by-step with self-imposed deadlines and structure to keep myself on track. You can often tell a lot about a book by how it begins and how it ends. What is the first line and last line of your book? That’s an interesting premise. The first line of the first poem is “after trauma/ you walk with your eyes/ dead-like in a forward direction” and the last line of the last poem is “are you ready yet/ for movement,/ for a lasting change/ of place?” I hadn’t thought of it, but these lines do tell a lot about my book and about my process of change, the evolution of the book and its arc. It’s about confronting trauma, through any means you have access to, in real life, in dreams, through people, through love and loss. It’s about disorientation, fragmentation, searching for rivers that guide you, and realizing that change takes time, that memory is reimagined, that there is no static place, and movement is all there is- movement and a change of place. Outside of writing, what are some of your passions or hobbies? I absolutely love going to art museums. I am inspired everytime I go. I love learning about the artist, where they lived, how fast they lived, how that fastness or slowness shows up in their work, how their lived experiences influenced their work and the mediums they chose to represent those feelings and experiences. I like seeing massive works that make me feel my physicality on this earth- how small I am. I am inspired by these artists’ creativity and it makes me want to create as well. William Carlos Williams is synonymous with plums. If you had to choose one fruit and one animal/plant/celestial body that would forever remind people of you, what would you choose and why? I would say pomegranates. I like how they’re hard to eat, how they get stuck in your teeth, how the seeds stain easily. They’re complicated and beautiful and not scared of shining their bright stainful light. I’ve also recently learned that there are ways to cut them that make them much easier to eat. Which is a nice twist.  All my life I never ate a pomegranate. It wasn’t until college that someone gifted one to me and I was surprised at its beautiful shape, like a statue. How curvy and strong it was. I had it in my room as more of a decoration, not knowing how to cut it open or eat it. It wasn’t until my friend reminded me that I could eat it and how, that I decided to. I didn’t know what to make of the insides, so many textures and such patterns, and the staining- everywhere. I like to think that I am like that. I feel intensely, I love intensely, I am sometimes hard to understand, but there are ways, once you learn me, that make it easier. They’re art. I like to think humans are art, that I am art. What are you currently reading? I recently finished Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. I take time to read things. I read for about 15 minutes in the morning. It’s such a fun part of my morning routine. I really enjoyed that book because 1. I am a big fan of Dostoevsky’s works, Tolstoy’s too. 2. I like getting lost in the elaborate story and Russian names. 3. It’s a very psychological book and it’s tense and it’s visceral. I like how I could feel Raskolnikov’s distress and descent. I have just started Britney Spears’ memoir The Woman in Me— I’ve been wanting to read it to hear her story in her words. I think the media misportrayed her during her rise to fame and subsequent mental health issues. I am also reading Natalie Gutiérrez’s The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color— it’s a more intense read as it has me reflecting on my life and the trauma I’ve faced. My partner and I actually went to a reading of hers in NYC. We did an activity that had us address somatic symptoms of sadness and anxiety. We went with our nieces and were later able to debrief about the talk— we discussed how trauma affects the body, how it’s passed down generationally, how difficult lived experiences stay with us. It was nice to have these open conversations. Mariella Saavedra Carquin has practiced as a licensed mental health counselor in New York City in clinical, higher education, and middle school settings and now works in integrated primary care at Children’s Hospital Colorado through the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is a graduate of Middlebury College, holds an EdM and an MA in psychological counseling from Columbia University, and recently earned an MA from Middlebury’s Bread Loaf School of English. In addition to writing poetry, she has published in various academic journals on the psychological impact of microaggressions experienced by undocumented immigrant youth. Born in Lima, Peru, and raised in Miami, Florida, she currently lives in Denver, Colorado. Maps You Can’t Make is her first book.

In the text, “gun-shaped speculum” implies violence, and, in our interview, Myers emphasized the speaker process to which we women subject ourselves voluntarily , Zapata wrote me in our Spanish-language email interview