Summer is officially over and it’s time to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month! These months give us a chance to highlight voices that sometimes get overshadowed. And poetry is a great way to allow ourselves to enjoy a new perspective. To aide in the enjoyment of this wonderful time, here are some new poetry books to peruse while waiting for the cooler weather.
Diannely Antigua’s latest work Good Monster is an exploration of what happens to the child no one protected grows up. Antigua shares a glimpse into her past during which she suffered at the hands of someone that should have been a protector. Antigua fights her own traumas and chronic illnesses while still seeking those things that make life worth living. Antigua fights through the feelings of betrayal by her stepfather, her mother and her own body to find love and joy in the world. Antigua displays amazing humor and wit throughout the work allowing for the reader to feel a deep connection with her. Her universal desire for companionship is another way in which readers feel a connection with her. Antigua’s voice is strong and at its most powerful when it is at its most vulnerable.
Spencer Williams work Tranz has definitely come to fight. It is fun and funny and often times brutal. Williams takes a deep looks at herself and explores her own triumphs and failings. But Williams is not the only one who needs to do some reflecting. Williams forces a mirror up to not only society but ourselves as individuals. As a trans woman Williams seeks to reconcile her familial relationships with the added knowledge of her identity. She explores her childhood and what it means now after her transition. Williams doesn’t’ just highlight the good aspects of her life but the awful parts as well. Her existence is honest and flawed but still lovely and full of joy. Williams lays herself bare, defiantly and beautifully.
Two great anthologies are also available. Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology is an amazing work that spans the gamut of culture that exists under the heading of Latino. The work is expansive, starting with the poems of the seventeenth century and moving forward. The poems reflect their time periods and what their writers faced. It culminates in a wealth of modern poets defining what it means to be American. The other anthology is Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose from the Undocumented Diaspora. Admittedly this work does not just cover those with a Hispanic background but everyone who has been affected by the undocumented status. As such it is still a wonderful resource to explore as it shows how deep and truly complex this issue actually is. This work gives a chance for those who are rendered voiceless by their status a chance to speak up.
Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! And Have a Happy Fall (the season not the action….you know what I mean)!