Poetry of the US-Mexico Borderlands: History & Anthologies

"During Pima social dances, men and women join hands and stomp throughout the night to the rhythm of Ant songs and Oriole songs performed by specialized singers. While these songs provide the substance of Native American poetry, until now no one has asked how these songs - and others - form a Native American poetic tradition, nor has anyone asked what makes some of these poems good." "Donald Bahr spent more than twenty years working with Pima singers in southern Arizona investigating these questions. Ants and Orioles presents translations of two singers' performances, "beautiful, provocative, condensed, disciplined tellings of things" learned from spirit-persons in dreams." "A subtle yet bold endeavor, Ants and Orioles will appeal to anyone interested in poetry or modes of textuality in other world cultures."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Latino Boom: An Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature combines an engaging and diverse selection of Latino/a authors with tools for students to read, think, and write critically about these works.     The first anthology of Latino literature to offer teachers and students a wide array of scholarly and pedagogical resources for class discussion and analysis, this thematically organized collection of fiction, poetry, drama, and essay presents a rich spectrum of literary styles.  Providing complete works of Latino/a literature vs excerpts written originally in English, the anthology juxtaposes well-known writers with emerging voices from diverse Latino communities, inviting students to examine Latino literature through a variety of lenses. 

A land of austerity and bounty, the Sonoran Desert is a place that captures imaginations and hearts. It is a place where barbs snag, thorns prick, and claws scratch. A place where lizards scramble and pause, hawks hunt like wolves, and bobcats skulk in creosote. Both literary anthology and hands-on field guide, The Sonoran Desert is a groundbreaking book that melds art and science. It captures the stunning biodiversity of the world's most verdant desert through words and images. More than fifty poets and writers--including Christopher Cokinos, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Ken Lamberton, Eric Magrane, Jane Miller, Gary Paul Nabhan, Alberto Ríos, Ofelia Zepeda, and many others--have composed responses to key species of this striking desert. Each creative contribution is joined by an illustration by award-winning artist Paul Mirocha and scientific information about the creature or plant authored by the book's editors. From the saguaro to the mountain lion, from the black-tailed jackrabbit to the mesquite, the species represented here have evoked compelling and creative responses from each contributor. Just as writers such as Edward Abbey and Ellen Meloy have memorialized the desert, this collection is sure to become a new classic, offering up the next generation of voices of this special and beautiful place, the Sonoran Desert.  

When it was first released in 1982, When It Rains was one of the earliest published literary works in the O'odham language. Speakers from across generations shared poems that showcased the aesthetic of the written word and aimed to spread interest in reading and writing in O'odham. The poems capture brief moments of beauty, the loving bond between family members, and a deep appreciation of Tohono O'odham culture and traditions, as well as reverent feelings about the landscape and wildlife native to the Southwest. A motif of rain and water is woven throughout the poetry in When It Rains, tying in the collection's title to the importance of this life-giving and sustaining resource to the Tohono O'odham people. With the poems in both O'odham and English, the volume serves as an important reminder of the beauty and changeability of the O'odham language. The themes and experiences expressed by the language educators in this volume capture still-rural community life: children are still bussed for miles to school, and parents still have hours-long daily commutes to work. The Sonoran Desert also remains an important part of daily life--seasons, rain on desert plants, and sacred mountains serve as important markers. In a new foreword to the volume, Sun Tracks editor Ofelia Zepeda reflects on how meaningful this volume was when it was first published and its continued importance. "Things have changed but many things remain the same," writes Zepeda. "The pieces in this collection will be meaningful to many still."

Twenty miles wide and two thousand long, the U.S.-Mexico borderland is a country unto itself that has been celebrated in the works of many writers--and not just those who call it home. Here artists as disparate as Carlos Fuentes, Maya Angelou, and Allen Ginsberg have found literary inspiration, presenting the region through varied viewpoints that give border writing its unusual scope and texture. This wide-ranging anthology--gathering short stories and essays, song lyrics and poems--offers readers a new appreciation of the border and its literature. Residents of the region may be startled to learn how many passers-by have been struck by this unruly slice of North America, while those living in other parts of the country may be surprised to find it more than a dateline for reports of smuggling and illegal immigration. Collected here are both celebrated and underappreciated gems of American and Mexican literature depicting a region that for some writers represents an exotic land, for others home. Writing on the Edge juxtaposes passages by New Jersey poet William Carlos Williams and native songwriter Flaco Jiménez, British novelist Graham Greene and American poet Demetria Martínez, to show us the border from both sides and from a distance. In all of the selections, La Frontera looms larger than life--an energizing force that frames the lives of the characters living within its boundaries. Included in the book is a literary map of the border highlighting the sites with which each author is identified. As editor Tom Miller observes, the very notion of literature in a region considered an "irrelevant nuisance" allows for more free-ranging creative output." Writing on the Edge sparkles with such creativity and invites readers to enjoy the best of two worlds--and of the world they share. Print a literary map of the borderlands here!