Your Story Matters

En este episodio de Poesía para el Corazón y para el alma, la poetisa Colombo Americana, Davina Ferreira nos regala una nueva serie de poemas en Español, los cuales serán parte de una de sus nuevas colecciones de poesía. 

El año pasado, Ferreira recibió el premio Juan Felipe Herrera al mejor libro de poesía en Inglés como parte del Festival Internacional de Libros Latinos en Los Estados Unidos por su libro de poesía en Inglés: If Love Had A Name.

In this new episode of Poesía para el Corazón Award Winning poet, Davina Ferreira gifts us a series of new poems in Spanish from one of her upcoming poetry books 

Last year, Ferreira received The Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book Award by the Latino International Book Festival for her poetry collection in English: If Love Had A Name.

As a Chicanita from a big Mexican family, I found great joy in reading and retreating into the pages of books. I remember my sisters and I walking to the tiny Maywood Library (now called the Maywood Cesar Chavez Library) in Southeast Los Angeles and checking books out. But the truth is that I had never seen myself, my family, or my experiences reflected in text until a mentor in high school gave me a copy of Sandra Cisneros’s House on Mango Street.

Reading that book became a defining moment for me. For the first time, I finally felt seen and validated. Cisneros’s stories echoed through my mind and planted a seed of hope. I nurtured that seed in college by writing and reading books and poetry by women of color. I devoured every book I could get my hands on and often read for pleasure rather than the required reading for my courses. (Don’t worry, I still graduated.)

When the pandemic began, I took up crocheting and gardening like most people. I then realized that there is no time like the present to make our dreams come true. To nurture those parts of ourselves that do not want to die, that do not want to shrivel up into hard rocks of bitterness. I realized que si no ahora, entonces cuando? The only person in my way was me. These poems were born out of a desire to share my stories and the words that keep me up at night. The words that burst out of me, accompany me on walks, and come to me through the voices of my beloved familia. They come as whispers, as shouts, and from the words that were never uttered by my departed loved ones.  These words come from all the women’s voices who must stay silent to survive. They come from the little girl who dreams of seeing her name and words on the spine of a book in the library.

The beauty is in the process, in the grays, the in-between that children of immigrants feel. The taste of English and Spanish on the tongue. Of hot dogs, tortillas, and weenie con huevo, too.

These poems are an offering from my soul to yours, and I thank you for supporting a dream. I hope you are inspired, annoyed, amused, and most of all, I hope that you nurture your dreams. Through my collection, This Poem Might Save You (Me), I invite you to take a journey with me.

Our Alegría Publishing LatinX poetas and writers share their Poesía. For this episode, we have invited Adrian Ernesto 

The author of Flashes & Verses… Becoming Attractions from Unsolicited Press, Between the Spine from Picture Show Press, La Belle Ajar & We Are the Ones Possessed from CLASH Books and Speaking con su Sombra with Alegría Publishing. He is currently finishing his sixth poetry book, the follow up to Sombra, the bilingual poetry collection La Lengua Inside Me. Adrian lives with his esposa in Los Angeles with their adorably spoiled cat Woody Gold.

Since mi Mami passed away in 2017, Mother’s Day has been difficult for me. This year, I want to honor Mami and Mothers everywhere with a reading of some of my most personal poems and readers favorites from Speaking con su Sombra. Writing, reading, and sharing these poems has helped me with the process of grieving. These poems from Sombra is a living ode as I honor Mi Mami’s life, her passing, her inspiration, her guidance, and the gift of her legacy within the poems in this collection. On this Mother's Day as I remember the memoria of mi Mami, I am hoping these poemas can also honor those who have lost loved ones in their familias.

Our Alegría Publishing LatinX poetas and writers share their Poesía. For this episode, we have invited Jean-Pierre Rueda

Jean-Pierre Rueda es un poeta y escritor nacido en San José, Costa Rica en 1985. Creció escuchando las leyendas de su tío aventurero quien viajaba cada diciembre desde la tierra de Mickey Mouse y George Bush al verano navideño en Costa Rica; siempre bautizado por la risa de su familia, la bachata rosa de Juan Luis Guerra y los abrazos que tardaban meses en ser. Desde niño, soñó con vivir en California y ser un reportero pintando discursos en el congreso estadounidense. Se imaginaba cumpliendo el sueño americano exactamente como su tío en la ciudad de Los Ángeles. Pero pronto se dio cuenta, al dejar Costa Rica cuando tenía 15 años, que Estados Unidos era muy distinto al país que dibujó de niño. Su voz era brusca, enardecida y violenta. Jean-Pierre Rueda le escribe poesía a esos aventureros que se encuentran persiguiendo los sueños americanos de alguien más en Estados Unidos, versos para celebrar la valentía de vivir tan lejos de lo conocido y el brillo de ser parte del alma Latinoamericana. Jean-Pierre espera crear espacios de diálogo con sus poemas de amor, historia, política y herencia.

HERENCIAS es una colección de poesía en español que se enfoca en temas de amor, melancolía, historia, política y familia. El autor Jean-Pierre Rueda ilustra recuerdos de niñez en su natal Costa Rica, paisajes de su vida inmigrante en California, la pasión al convertirse en padre y las herencias de personajes y eventos históricos que inspiraron generaciones de Latinx en Estados Unidos. Jean-Pierre Rueda busca con sus versos románticos hacerle un homenaje a la belleza y tristeza de nacer y crecer en otro país, los valores familiares que se vuelven puntos cardinales en la travesía de los años y la importancia de contar la historia para iluminar la valentía ante lo incierto.

Davina Ferreira de Alegría Publishing entrevista a la emergente poeta LatinX Paloma Alcantar, sobre su libro "Déjame decirte lo que dice el corazón". Este libro es un paseo a través de los diferentes matices del amor. Cada frase escrita aquí es una nota mental para la autora, y para cualquier corazón dispuesto a aceptarlas. En ellas descubrirás la fragilidad de la vida, y el que a veces es imprescindible romperse toda para ver la claridad desde otro enfoque. Deseo que de la mano de la poesía, te reconcilies con el corazón y le abras la puerta a esta energía en todas sus formas.

Paloma Alcantar es escritora, autora y poeta mexicana que radica en la ciudad de Atlanta, Georgia. Cursó la carrera de Administración Financiera en su país natal y posteriormente concluyó sus estudios de Psicología de la Nutrición en Pensilvania, Estados Unidos. Actualmente es creadora de contenido para las organizaciones Women’s Economic Empowerment Global Life, y Alquimia Global for Human Rights. Durante los últimos años ha estudiado temas diversos acerca del desarrollo personal como parte de su propio proceso de crecimiento. Ha participado en diversos talleres literarios en España, y fue parte de la Antología Poetas y Narradores 2019 del ICPM, donde fue acreditada con el primer premio en la categoría de Poesía. En 2020 colaboró junto con otros escritores en The Latinx Poetry Project, una compilación de rima hispana que enaltece la cultura latina. El amor, la interioridad, la feminidad y la resiliencia son elementos indispensables en su temática.

Davina Ferreira from Alegría Publishing interviews emerging LatinX Poet Alejandra Jimenez about her book Mujer de Color(es), a short collection of poems, lyrical essays, prayers, and portraits. Mujer de Color(es): is a Poetic Experience —an ode to imperfections, an ode to the divinity within the mundane, an ode to our metamorphic culturas, an ode to the reverberant voices of brown women and femmes. It is the act of looking at your fears straight in the face and honoring them for trying to protect you but surrendering them to achieve growth. It is a reclamation of our feminine strengths: nurturing, resilience, sexuality, creativity, spirituality, and so many more. It is one path, of a billion, towards healing one person and, through it, the collective feminine consciousness; Y, esto es solo el principio.

She's the first-born daughter of two immigrant parents. Being her parents right hand made her very socially aware of their struggles from an early age. Particularly, their constant struggle with the immigration system. Which is why she's pursuing law school in 2021. Being a Mujer in a very machista household also created a sense of responsibility to bring about change. Hopefully beginning with her generation and continuing for the next and next. There are so many taboo conversations within Latinx homes that are completely necessary to hold in the name of progress. For that reason, she launched Mujer, No Te Rajes Podcast. A bilingual podcast dedicated to vitalizing feminine energies in the Latinx community- and beyond. In the personal sense, poetry is her craft. It gives her a safe platform through which to bring light to all of the injustices buried within her heart and the heart of many others. It's a form to archive her existence through her experiences. It allows her to share the most vulnerable aspects of her humanity, things that she aspires to say out loud someday---- now.

Davina Ferreira from Alegría Publishing interviews emerging LatinX Poet Cynthia J Villa about her book, "All She Is". A love story about all of what-couldn’t-be. It is a reflective and intimate quest to healing the soul through a compilation of introspective bilingual poetry. Poemas en inglés y en español that will sail the reader into a voyage of heartbreak, grief, agony, self-worth, and the bitterness of loss. This book is for anyone who has struggled with the enduring pain of a broken heart and the burden of a million what-ifs.

She's a gender queer, Mexican American poet, and writer from Wilmington, California. As a child, she lived in Michoacán, Mexico, with her parents and two brothers. Upon her uneasy return to el Norte and her struggles with the cultural clash, she eventually learned to exist in-between two languages. Yearning to alleviate the grief, heartache, and ambiguity caused by her mother’s unpredictable death became the pivotal point that invited her to submerge in the mythical world of poetry, where time stood still. Eventually, her writings became a proclamation of self-healing. Her poetry now immerses in themes of Love, Loss, Heartache, Healing, and Self-Empowerment. She has exhibited her work under the pen name, cjLeubh, on social platforms. Some of her most recent work was featured in Alegria Magazine’s, The Latinx Poetry Project. As a primary witness of the effects of the struggles of cultural and language barriers and the lack of resources and representation of people of color in low-income communities, she’s been inspired to pursue a legal career. Whether it is in immigration law or criminal law, she aspires to become a lawyer not to punish people but to ensure the law protects the people it is meant to protect. When Cynthia is not writing or spending time with her partner and their dog Milo, you’ll find her wandering in the aisles of Ikea or HomeGoods.

Davina Ferreira from Alegría Publishing interviews emerging LatinX Poet Alma Lizzette Cardenas about her book, “Groanings from the Desert”. A collection of English & Spanish teo-poemas, prayers, and thoughts that invite you into her pain, joy, hopes, and dreams. The pages are a sacred place that hold pieces of Alma that have been scary to share, but deadlier to think that she is alone and keep them to herself. They are a counter cultural response to her experience of navigating toxic mindsets and systems of her faith community and culture, and brings to life truths which have set her free. They were written between February and October of the year   2020. Writing them has released her voice in way’s she never knew was in her, which in turn has allowed her to heal and step into being fully her. This book is especially for youth, young adults, and women of color, but also for the parents, mentors, pastors, madrinas, and  padrinos who are walking alongside them. May   you always have people around you who create spaces that encourage you to speak, dream, and be unapologetically you.

She's a Mexico-Estadounidense  born and raised in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. She is proud to be a second generation Latina, and daughter of parents that migrated from  Mexico’s Durango and Jalisco states. Her upbringing was heavily influenced by her protestant latina faith community whose unwillingness to engage or answer her questions led her to seminary school. Alma holds a Master of Arts in transformational Urban Leadership from Azusa Pacific University, an Urban Youth Workers Certificate from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor in Christian Ministry from  Facultad de Teología. She is her own definition of a wife, mother, friend, mentor, mentee, pastora and teóloga who values truth, justice, and the prophetic voice of our youth and women of color. In her free time she enjoys hanging out at local coffee shops with a cup of iced coffee and in company of her daughters, family, friends, or a good book.

Davina Ferreira from Alegría Publishing interviews emerging LatinX Poet Veronica Lopez about her book, "Lightning in a Bottle". Lightning in a bottle is a blunt and dark humored collection of poems that takes you through a journey of self reflection through the eyes of a bipolar latina. Veronica Lopez unapologetically delves into the dark and light of life, and talks about identity, mental illness, heartbreak, toxic relationships, and empowerment. It is a story of many emotions and many secrets. It’s a story meant for the misunderstood, those predisposed to feel so much, and anyone else looking to break out of the bottle they’ve been trapped inside. 

She's a 23 year old Mexican-American actress and writer, born to two immigrant parents and a family of seven. She has had a love for words and stories since she was a little girl, and has been writing for as long as she can remember. It wasn’t until she started journaling for her therapy sessions, that something deeper started to come through, and she realized she had a way with metaphors and unique imagery, which was the birth of her poetry. When she’s not writing, she spends her time trying to follow her dream of becoming an actress in both theatre and film. She is excited to be publishing her first book, Lightning in a Bottle, and she also hopes to make some kind of difference in the world using her voice, art, and self-expression.

LatinX Poetry Project is a poetic anthology with over 45 new LatinX Poets from diverse backgrounds. To this day, the publishing industry continues to underrepresent diverse writers and, as a result, deny readers the power and beauty of necessary voices. It is our hope that through an inclusive collection like this, we can amplify relevant cultural narratives and shine a light on the rich humanity contained within our stories. There are those that would have us believe LatinX poets are extinct or on their way to becoming irrelevant. Nothing is further from the truth.We are very much alive and we are everywhere.