The University of Arizona Press
April 3, 2020
Happy National Poetry Month from the University of Arizona Press!
National Poetry Month was launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996 to remind the public that poets have an integral role to play in our culture, and that poetry matters. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world!
We always look forward to celebrating National Poetry Month because we have so much incredible Indigenous and Latinx poetry to share with the world. We are grateful and proud every month of the year to publish the work of truly phenomenal poets, and we hope you will take this month to dive into some of our poetry collections in the award-winning Sun Tracks and Camino del Sol series from the comfort of your home. Below, find a look our recently published collections, along with a few of our favorite new poems to kick-start the poetry celebration.
Our Bearings is a collection of narrative poetry that examines and celebrates Anishinaabe life in modern Minneapolis. Crafted around the four elements—earth, air, water, and fire— the poems are a beautifully layered discourse between landscapes, stories, and the people who inhabit them. Throughout the collection, McGlennen weaves the natural elements of Minnesota with rich historical commentary and current images of urban Native life. Reverence for wildlife and foliage is pierced by the sharp man-made skylines of Minneapolis while McGlennen reckons with the heavy impact of industrial progress on the souls and everyday lives of individuals.
BEARINGS IV
When we were water
we joined as we needed,
were protected, we knew to come
back around
When we were water
we were patient for rain
and knew its arrival
forecasted by purple sky.
When we were water
days worked in circles
and years concentrically
until we knew our beginnings.
When we were water
we dove and scouted
like loons, swallowed
pebbles by night.
When we were water
we turned into ourselves
leaving behind what was
no longer essential.
When we were water
we turned into ourselves
claimed by heart circles
that have never washed away.
From Our Bearings, by Molly McGlennen. © 2020 by Molly McGlennen. Reprinted by permission of the University of Arizona Press.
Click here to read five questions about Our Bearings with Molly McGlennen.
With images that taunt, disturb, and fascinate, Aurum captures the vibrantly original language in Santee Frazier’s first collection, Dark Thirty, while taking on a completely new voice and rhythm. Each poem is vivid and memorable, beckoning to be read again and again as the words lend an enhanced experience each time. Frazier has crafted a wrought-iron collection of poetry that never shies away from a truth that America often attempts to ignore.
ORE BODY
The shine off the streets reflects the coming bustle of dawn, of plastic and bolted steel, neon and industry caught in the asphalt. And as the grass sweats—the groan of machinery echoing off masonry—the dust rises, sewing itself in the fat of trees, shining the faces of men in the ditch under hard hats, shoveling dirt, whose language rolls the tongue of digging. The clank and song of Mimbres, a music hidden in the busting rock and soil. This ritual of sunrise, of shovel, and the gearing mechanisms of progress reminds me of a man in unlaced high-tops finger-painting a wall. Smearing gold into brick. His face shined like gunmetal, and when he sucked the gold from a paper bag, I knew his ritual had something to do with time travel, with brick, before mineral, polygon, the invention of wheel, story of flat, firing of clay. And now making my way through this city whose streets are named by numbers and minerals— the sunlight breaking the haze of dust and exhaust— I realize the oldest thing in this city is thirst.
From Aurum, by Santee Frazier. © 2019 by Santee Frazier. Reprinted by permission of the University of Arizona Press.
Click here to dive deeper into Aurum with Santee Frazier.
The poems in Meditación Fronteriza are a celebration of culture, tradition, and creativity that navigates themes of love, solidarity, and political transformation. Written by Norma Elia Cantú, the award-winning author of Canícula, this collection carries the perspective of a powerful force in Chicana literature—and literature worldwide. Deeply personal yet warmly relatable, these poems flow from Spanish to English gracefully. With Gloria Anzaldúa’s foundational work as an inspiration, Meditación Fronteriza unveils unique images that provide nuance and depth to the narrative of the borderlands.
THE WALL
Written on a visit to Nuevo Progreso, Tamaulipas, Méjico, May 15, 2009
No one believed it would happen here
en el Valle
where the birders find such joy
in spotting unique exotic birds.
No one believed they would build it here.
“Just talk,” someone said,
“puro puedo,
Not to worry, they’ll never get the money.”
But the wall went up,
and hardly anyone noticed
the way the land was rent in two
the way the sky
above seemed bluer against the brown metal
jutting up and up
like soldiers saluting a distant god
sentinels silently guarding… what?
Perhaps a way of life
incongruent with their dreams,
a pastiche of broken people
crossing their quotidian desires
from one side to the other.
All legal and safe,
sipping margaritas in el mercado
or shopping at Walmart
living.
Best of both worlds,
a friend tells me. But you gotta be legal to live it.
Not for everyone the fruits of gringolandia.
Not everyone sees the wall.
Walls make good enemies: suspicious, defensive,
fearful, who hide behind a wall
solid as a heart hardened by fear.
Who would’ve believed it would happen here?
From Meditación Fronteriza, by Norma Elia Cantú. © 2019 by Norma Elia Cantú. Reprinted by permission of the University of Arizona Press.
Click here to read a brief interview with Norma Elia Cantú.
If you are looking for more ways to celebrate National Poetry Month at home, the Academy of American Poets has compiled a great list here.
Don’t forget, the University of Arizona Press is offering a 40% discount on e-books. Use the code AZEBOOK40 to download some poetry and start reading!
