Marking An Anniversary

You're in luck! I have a surprise in store. From the archives, the poetry reading I gave to launch Contemplating Eve, my first book of poetry, at Rainy Faye Bookstore. Find out why it took ten years to put this book together. Find out how Toni Morrison's Sula inspired the book of poetry. Today happens to be the one year anniversary of the launch of the book.  Here's your chance to learn more about Contemplating Eve  and to sample some of the poetry inside:

Welcome everyone and thank you for coming to the book launch for Contemplating Eve. I am so happy to be here. This afternoon I plan to share with you a little bit about Contemplating Eve, about me and I would like to read some poetry.

First, I was inspired to publish the 70 poems and roughly 30 pieces of artwork contained in the book last November.  At that time, I realized that over the course of 10 years I had compiled a great deal of work from visual arts, photography and poetry classes taken undergrad. I thought it might be a great project to integrate the art with the poetry. The anthology has indeed turned out to be a feast for the senses. I am proud to present it to you today. Some of the artwork from the book is exhibited here in the bookstore.

So let me tell you a little bit about myself. I have a BA in English from Brown University and a MA in International Economics and Development from Johns Hopkins’ School for Advanced International Studies.  I published my first work of poetry, “Oda al girasol” or “Ode to the Sunflower” in a national Spanish-language literary magazine at the age of 17 and in my high school’s literary journal “The Odyssey” that same year.

Since publishing my work initially, I have taken visual arts, photography and poetry classes at the Rhode Island School of Design (aka RISD) and at Brown University. This book represents the culmination of work done during my undergraduate years and since then.

A point of inspiration for these collected works is a quotation from Toni Morrison’s Sula. Here, close to the end of the novel, Sula, the protagonist , thinks of her best friend Nel as she watches Nel walk out of her life for the last time. Sula, despite the mistakes that she has made with Nel, laments a time when they were close knit friends. And I quote:

“So she will walk down that road, her back so straight in that old green coat, the strap of her handbag pushed back all the way to the elbow, thinking how much I have cost her and never remember the days when we were two throats and one eye and had no price.” End quote.

Here Sula describes a friendship that has endured since childhood, one where she felt a close bond and from which she received spiritual renewal. In the novel love is an all-important escape from the visceral realities of 1940s America and an escape from the gnawing loneliness that can scratch at your insides.

To scale this novel’s jagged topography is to recognize that the spiritual bond of love and friendship has lifelong existential implications.

In Sula, Morrison asks critical existential questions about freedom and power. Are they solely physical? Are they spiritual in nature?

In Contemplating Eve, I posit that freedom and power are importantly spiritual. The power of love in its abundance or in its absence can shape an emotional landscape and form a lasting spiritual foundation. In Contemplating Eve, the reader takes a journey through profiles in grace, love, laughter and barren circumstance. Ultimately, love is freedom, and love, as a spiritual foundation, conquers all. And now an introduction to the poetry that’s inside the book.

*The first poem is, Love, p  41. Have you ever been in love? I mean really been in love? The type of love where care and responsibility march hand-in-hand. This poem is about that joy that you felt when you knew that this is what you were looking for:

Love is…

constant

Love is…

knowing

Love is…

That we cannot hold each other more dearly

Love is…

Joy

Love is…

My joy

Love is…

Your joy

Love is…

Never letting go

You see my parents taught me how to love.

I had forgotten entirely what mattered--

But, then there is you.

And, now there is you.

*The next poem is “Climb” p 122. This poem is about that tenderness that a child can open up for you. A tenderness that may be you didn’t know you had, but one that is profound nonetheless:

Climb into this tender loving place, which are

my arms. Lay your head next to my

heart and hear it beat.

Be lulled, be warmed

soothingly to sleep.

Climb up my bosom and the side of my face,

through my tight tendrils and arrive

dreaming.

Think of my gentle whisper, my soft touch.

Know that as I envelop your lithe frame

that I hold you closely,

dearly to my soul.

 *Next is “Mama/Abuela” p 164. Do you have a mother or grandmother with a steely nature—a larger than life figure who seems as if she could take on the world? This poem is about that woman who has worked hard for her retired days and has known the fight.

70 years of living

of breathing, of pushing through, reaching in

and pulling out the soul, the strength to move on

to journey the darkened caves of despair and

brilliant summits of emotion.

You’ve grown roots,

thick and tangled,

deep.

You are not as they imagine you,

a dried rose,

lifeless, preserved or clung to

like an old photo,

looked on with fleeting nostalgia…

You live

mature,

established,

arrived,

splendid,

in soul and in strength,

an end and an essence.

Woman of many facets and many faces:

happy, silly giddy,

fierce, tough, stubborn,

of easy defiant grace.

Carrier of worry,

burden,

patience,

hope and vision.

Backbone.

Woman of silvered hair

bronzed creased skin

weakening flesh and congealing soul,

you are my comfort,

my beacon,

Mama/Abuela.

Next is “Yawns and Laughter” p 17. Ever tried laugh therapy? I have not, but I think I know why it works. Do you remember being a child and crying & laughing with such ease and frequency? And you would cry. Oh, how you would cry. But because your friend was laughing (at heaven knows what) you started laughing. Hysterically. For minutes on end. Until the tears dried up. Me too, this poem is about those moments. That is, when they happen today:

Yawns and laughter are contagious
child-like laughter
the clapping up of spirits
I can feel your eyes graze my face
as you search me from one side to another
now your silence
evidence of an active inner life
shameless
when I look at you I know
just how ephemeral sadness is
and although you are now gone
even still
your spirit abides in me
go softly, go gently

Finally is “Self-love”. I think that self-love is about self-discipline. It’s a journey. And I found that you need a whole lot of it to get through tough times. This poem is about the dawn of my understanding of that fact.

Self-love is like the sweet juice of a passion fruit:

indulgent and rich. Oh, the joy inside. The richness

within. To accept one’s faults and find the quality

of mind to move on requires such grace. Oh, to get

on with it. To get on with life. The rugged tough-

guy win-the-battle good-stuff. That’s what I want.

I want Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven. I want that

cocksure inward spirit that very simply scorns the

enemy and coddles the friend. A victory without

comes from a victory within. Slay my demons, I will.

All in good time. All in good time.

And, that’s it. I hope you enjoyed getting your first taste of Contemplating Eve. Enjoy the book and the refreshments.  Don’t forget to check out the Facebook Fan page for Contemplating Eve.  Thanks.