Gnashing Teeth Publishing

| words that get in your teeth

what we’re reading – january 6, 2020

picked up this slim tome at half price books. a peek inside and the poem Ode to El Cabrito captivated me. i knew this book was coming home with me.

“A Tongue in the Mouth of the Dying” by Laurie Ann Guerrero was the 2012 winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. Guerrero went on to become the 2016-2017 Texas Poet Laureate. but back to this book.

it is impossible to package the weight of these poems into a single post. these poems are universal but local. Babies Under the House is heart-wrenching, not just because of the subject matter. it is a story we all know, have heard, seen in the news, only with the names changed.

the tongue, it’s power to taste, “lick you from the inside/until slaughter,” all told with the tongue of 2 languages, 2 worlds. these poems reside inside Nepantla, the place where different worlds meet (Gloria Anzaldúa).

Guerrero has 2 other volumes of poetry, which are going on our “to read” list.

Goodnight, Taj Mahal by Andre Peltier

Deep below earth, clay and sand, deep below roots and aquifers, it lies in wait. Like that silent coyote stalking her white-tailed deer through the brush, it waits patiently and

contain by Megan Cartwright

verb past tense: contained; past participle: contained 1. have or hold (someone or something) within. Similar: hold carry To have and to hold in our own microcosm, constructed of hope.

Listening to Words by Mona Mehas

Listening to words out of touch cross lily pads, one to the next my rules, a tiny picture frame debt of honor, repay the gift. Headlights illuminate the path listening

Blooming by Elizabeth Gade

Some days are easy and some days are exhausting the days you have to dig through the muck inside take more hits than a heavyweight prize fighter cling to life

Pomegranate Rose by Laura Peña

I want to feed this delicacy To my concubine A tiny spoonful at a time I want to watch the luscious sorbet Linger on the tip of her tongue Melt

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