Summer ends for many in the U.S. A day doesn’t go by in These Times when we are not affected by the politics, climate change and the dominance of violence. Much of this has been converted into fuel for my new poems. I include here the start of one of the poems. It was published in Fifth Wed. Journal: A Storm Upon us. There is a lot of interest amongst activists and academics involved in…
Continue readingBooks have lives. My first novel was born to the public in the 1980s, when recognition of U.S. Latinas started. My short novel was written in the 1970s when I was in my twenties. As a self-taught writer, a brown “American” woman of Mexican background, even as I worked on the story I never expected it to be published. Thirty-three years after it was first printed it remains in publication.
Continue readingBesides re-reading Naula O’Fallain’s two memoirs, I delved into other books. One was by my bedside for a while: And, I did a review of two books for the Women’s Review of Books by an Argentine writer, Silvina Ocampo. I have another book at the ready, which I read, re-read, at my bedside to read again and recommend. Sometimes new writers think they are being transgressive and breaking new ground on the subject of gender,…
Continue readingReading Naula O’Failain’s memoir Are You Somebody on vacay. I’ve read it and her sequel, Almost There a few times. How does an individual measure success these days? How do baby boomers who strove for parents’ approval and to do right by everyone right into retirement age measure personal satisfaction? Do we allow ourselves to feel any joy in these times with governments that appear to have no conscience? Are we content with the modest…
Continue readingNew collection in the works. In case you want to get a preview here are poems from the collection being published independently. When Snow Turns to Rain and It Is Still Winter(Resisting Arrest (anthology, ed. by Tony Medina, Jacar Press; North Carolina, 2016); Algo de ti.(Weber: The Contemporary West, Spring/Summer 2016| Vol. 32 Num. 2); Two Men and Me (Fifth Wednesday Journal, ed. Vern Miller; Fall, 2017Lisle, IL) A Storm Upon Us, These Times, Mierda( Fifth Wednesday Journal, ed.…
Continue reading(Dog days of summer. The poet at home in NM.) SUPPORT US New poems going into Hypertext Magazine in Chicago that is also dedicated to social justice services are in the new collection: My Book of the Dead. Congratulations to the staff there on the upcoming 10th anniversary issue in which my poemitos will appear. I am available to work one on one.
Continue readingRegularly, I am asked to submit work to new projects. Recently, after such a request I asked a journal editor to. give me a nudge. It’s a Tenth anniversary edition of the journal, which I shall leave unnamed at this time. I got the nudge and am happy to look at the poems I put aside at the start of summer to choose the ones I’ll submit for consideration. Knowing something about the project…
Continue readingI have been struggling with the purpose of creative writing in these times. I made a pledge to myself that I would have poems done this year. So happy it has come together. Two Men and Me is a short poem written a few years back, nominated for a Pushcart. It’s a minor tribute to two writers I was voraciously reading at the time. I don’t read as much as I once did–then again, what…
Continue reading(Ana Castillo, 2019, NYC) I work with one person and on one project at a time.
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