The following poem by English teacher Vanessa Jimenez Gabb was published on the “30 Latin@ Poets/30 Days” segment of the online magazine Luna Luna. Ms. Gabb is the author of Weekend Poems, Dancing Girls Press, 2014. Please enjoy the poem and feel free to leave a comment for Ms. Gabb.
reasons we should buy this belize livingsocial escape
Let us keep going, going, going, back to La Dorada.Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera 1. to be wet and spa colored 2. not spa colored in the bourgy sense by this i mean the rains will turn us to mud sinkholes in Cayo with everywhere flora molten intruding 3. we ate conch every time we were hungry we ate until we dreamt more meat and kept and turned conch shell and spire ourselves habanero as ceviche 4. we have no easy drinks to go down what little umbrellas are we holding our hands 5. the treaty of versailles said yes cut away everything between this river and that take all the mahogany you can carry ’til there is none left take with you all the open that was
Click “continue reading” for Q&A with the poet.
Q&A with Vanessa Jimenez Gabb
How do you define Latin@ poetics?
Latin@ poetics, poetics in general, for me, is about helping to raise consciousness and make us less alienated from ourselves. It’s about understanding the systems we are a part of and what they make of us good working people. To expose and to activate collectively.
Who are you reading now?
Right now, I’m making my way through Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens, which one of my advisees is writing about for her IB Extended Essay. I also just received Patricia Spears Jones’ new book, Living in the Love Economy, and can’t wait to get red with it. Every day I read those writing about Gaza/Israel, the police state we live in, the various crises of capitalism…
Why a “belize livingsocial escape?” Why not elsewhere?
Girl, i’m down for anywhere! As far as Belize, it’s been about ten years since i visited last. Ian and and i took our first trip as a couple there. We climbed the Maya ruins. We ate conch every meal. We visited with family of mine i’d never met. We fished. Bliss. It was a time i wish i could have again and again. So, i’m working on a collection now about our ten years together and where and how we began, who i am in the relationship, who i’ve become. The notion of ruin, states of beauty and disrepair that people go through, couples go through, structures go through. If we can actually return somewhere. What about ourselves is lasting. How the personal is political and the political, personal.
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