32. #PopsugarReadingChallenge: Other Musics: New Latina Poetry

Popsugar Reading Challenge category: A book by a Latinx author
Book: Other Musics: New Latina Poetry, Cynthia Cruz, Ed.

It's hard to generalize about this book because the 15 poets have such different styles and topics. Natalie Diaz writes a wrenchingly raw account of her brother's addiction in "When My Brother Was an Aztec." Deborah Paredez explores an early Latina Hollywood star's suicide in "Blue and Full of Stars." Diane Marie Delgado speaks hopefully of love in "Lucky You."

My favorite was Ada Limon, whose images are both colorful and accessible. Here's the ending of her poem "Overjoyed:"

And let me be the first to admit, when I
come across some jewel of pleasure, I too want
to squeeze that thing until even its seedy heart
evaporates like ethanol, want to throw my
bird-bones into the brush-fire until,
half-blind, all I can hear is the sound
of wings in the relentlessly delighted air.

---