Every so often, I’m reminded that the work we do at the desk—quiet, private, uncertain—can find its way into larger conversations. I recently learned that my lyric memoir Ruin & Want has been included on CLMP’s Reading List for Hispanic Heritage Month 2025.
That book came from years of sorting through memory and silence, and to see it alongside so many powerful voices feels like a kind of homecoming.
I’m also grateful to share that Black Lawrence Press is running a Hispanic Heritage Month sale that includes my book, Rotura. You can find the full list here.
Indie presses like BLP have been steady companions in my writing life, and their commitment to bringing new work into the world is something I deeply admire.
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I’m wishing everyone safety and peace of mind as we enter autumn and the shortening of days.
Prepping for the new semester always brings thoughts of newness: new readings, new prompts, new ways to approach things. This newness has been a theme of late.
Like how recently I had to replace my phone case. The broken one had served me a few years.
The broken one had a cartoon duck slumped across a counter with loose papers, coffee, and a napkin with cartoon s*** for company. Over the whole scene hung the words: “I’m sick of everything.”
This statement is, as they say, a vibe.
Me too, buddy. Me too.
But having life lifing at me as it has, I took in the image of this exhausted and exploited creature and wondered: why am I glamorizing that?
I mean, I’m not. It’s funny. Until it’s not. And it hasn’t been for a bit. Or rather, why have I carried this symbol so intimately in my hand for so long?
The replacement was a phone case with purple and pink clouds on it.
The clouds are rendered in such a way as to make it seem like they could be parting or coming together to storm.
Either way, the change is beautiful.
So, things remain cloudy?!? That tracks.
Writing Prompt: The astrology podcast I follow spoke recently of the start of Virgo season and how it comes with a renewed focus on the day to day, on daily routine and maintenance, things that get overlooked over time and which need to be revisited in order for our relationship with them to evolve (which if you follow the logic here means that they help us evolve, no?).
Similarly, what signs, symbols, words, etc. in your daily life have you not taken in and given attention to in a while? What do they point to that needs a “refresh,” so to speak? What does giving these things attention open up for their significance in your life?
Use this mix of concrete and abstract materials to write a poem that explores how a poem can be a space of reconnecting with what would otherwise pass us by.
Let me know in the comments if you tried the prompt and how it went.
The Influence 