Huida Constante / Manuel Tzoc / 2016

Constante Hida / Manuel Tzoc / 2016

My friend brought me back Constante Huida by Manuel Tzoc back from Guatemala this past fall. I've been itching to read their work for years and was so grateful! Tzoc is a monumental queer Maya writer from Guatemala, one of the first voices you’ll have recommended to you when you ask. That said, I’m not sure if this is the collection by which to get to know Tzoc’s work. Most of the collection is a well-crafted irreverent queer ennui diatribe. While Tzoc sprinkles the collection with playful puns and eye-catching images here and there, there are one too many poems bemoaning the challenges of writing for me to understand where all the pomp was coming from. There are definitely glimpses of real pathos on the page, such as “por el día/por los días.” Either way, I’m glad to have read it and will be seeking out more of his work. 2 out 5

Coz / Marco Valerio Reyes Cisfuentes / 2023

Coz / Marco Valerio Reyes Cisfuentes / 2023

Marco and I traded books during the Trinacional festival de poesia in Chiquimula, where he wore #BlackLivesMatter and Pride shirts in even the most conservative settings, where he was told not to read the poem about the war criminal who funded one of the private schools. Most poetry collections I have read primarily about death sink into the sentimental. You can read the minor scale in the writing, the moaning grief. Coz writes about death with a punk’s stoicism and probing eye. In “Oda al Arbol” or “Ode to the Tree,” he laments the “cowardly act of writing,” wrestling with the fear of expression in the aftermath of a dictatorship. In “Ultima Voluntad” or “Last Will,” he reflects upon the visions of his dying father. Coz is a chapbook for those unafraid of looking the world in the eye, of noticing the cadavers they prefer we ignore. 5/5 

Poemas de la izquierda erotica / Ana Maria Rodas / 1973

Poemas de la izquierda erotica / Ana Maria Rodas / 1973

Poemas de la izquierda erotica is considered the beginning of feminist leftist literature in Guatemala. It's a spicy title, but even so, I think I’d be forgiven for expecting a little bit more leftist content or analysis here. The collection includes a mix of poems about erotic desire and agency, both of which are frequently frustrated by dishonesty, rejection, or other unbalanced gendered power dynamics. The poems have Yesika Salgado’s accessibility, line breaks, and flair for unflinching honesty ground through the political upheavals of the Central American armed conflicts of the Cold War. I found the poems thoroughly delightful, though would consider it a nascent feminist literature coming from an era when the bar for men was so low and the asks of women were respectively really damn low too. 4/5

Entre los brazos de la neblina / Mariela Tax / 2023

Entre los brazos de la neblina / Mariela Tax / 2023

These plainspoken poems thread the realities of one contemporary Maya woman. The poems narrate cultural connection and loss, clap back against racism, linger on haunting mountainous landscapes, and cut through the fog with a clear sweet light in her voice. I found many 5/5 poems in this collection with my favorites being the punchier, longer poems like “la evolucion de mis pasos.” 3 / 5

Vamos Patria a Caminar / Otto Rene Castillo / 1965

Vamos Patria a Caminar / Otto Rene Castillo / 1965

I’ve been searching for a book by Otto Rene Castillo for years, so I was thrilled when I found a copy of Vamos Patria a Caminar en La Teca during my trip to Guate. This collection is full of love and heartbreak poems, as well as patriotic, revolutionary leftist poetry. The love here blends and blurs nationalism and romantic love, a tradition familiar to anyone who has read the kundimans of the Phillipines (via Patrick Rosal esp). There’s very many 10/10 poems in this collection. Occasionally, the collection lapses into the typical snares of masculinist love poetry. The patriotic nationalism and idealism hasn’t aged well either, as the revolutionary potential of postcolonial nation-states has slowly faded into a dystopia in Africa, South Asia, and Latin America.  Still, it’s easy to see why Otto was so beloved by the revolutionary left in Central America with these passionate, pulsating poems dreaming of a better future in Guate and TLC. 4/5