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news + new Debate erasures

José Angel Araguz 1 Comment

I wrote in my journal last night: Made it to August, no thanks to July. It’s been tough. If this is you and your situation as well, please know you’re not alone.

This week, I’m sharing some quick news as well as two new additions and an update to the Debate series of erasures I’ve been doing. Enjoy!

First up, I’m excited to share a review of my lyric memoir, Ruin & Want (Sundress Publications). Poet and translator Dana Delibovi was kind enough to spend time with the book and share some insights through her review “Exposing the Wounds” published by Cable Street.

One moment that stood out to me from the review:

An intriguing aspect of Araguz’s memoir is the set of connections forged between youthful and adult experience. Much of the book’s lyricism—its truly poetic quality—comes from the way it braids these phases of life. The adolescent’s high school affair sours or frustrates the adult’s search for love and identity. The adult hates looking back “because I cannot make it all cohere…cannot reconcile anyone’s intentions…cannot move forward without acknowledging the shame…” Growing up, moving away, getting an education all occur in the presence of pain that seems even more intense in the light of new experiences. As Araguz climbs upward toward noble things, the weight of what he carries is even harder to bear.

This passage stood out to me as the dynamic pointed out here–that of braiding different phases of life and sitting with what comes from the juxtaposition–feels like a key into the project. This idea also stands as a metaphor for life right now. Figuring things out. Making do with what you have.

Thank you to Delibovi for this review! Check out the review here and check out Dana Delibovi’s site for more info on their work.

I’m also excited to share about a local event next week featuring friend and poet Amelia Díaz Ettinger. She’ll be the featured reader at the Boston Poetry Slam @ The Cantab Lounge. Here are the deets:

WHAT: Boston Poetry Slam @ The Cantab Lounge hosts Amelia Díaz Ettinger
WHEN: Wednesday, August 7th: workshop at 6:30PM; open mic at 8PM; feature at 10PM (all times EST)
WHO: Amelia Díaz Ettinger
WHERE: 738 Massachusetts Avenue, Central Square, Cambridge [directions]

I wrote about Amelia Díaz Ettinger and her work previously here on the Influence.

Finally, here are the latest additions in the Debate series (for more info on the series, check out the original post). A few updates to the project:

  • First, I’d like to recognize that the presidential election (and the whole world it feels like) has changed since the first debate.
  • That said, both sides continue to place emphasis on the border in their campaign speeches and talk.
  • For that reason, I plan on continuing with the project and eventually have a series that includes the 38 times the word “border” was said during the debate.
  • Essentially: despite the change in circumstances, the theme of the project holds.
  • Also: I have decided to do only one erasure per screenshot where formerly I was hoping to do two from each. This change is mainly practical, but also feels right due to the changes mentioned above.

All that said: Please enjoy the latest additions to the Debate series below!

Debate Series: parts 4 & 5

An erasure that reads: we hang in a situation across the border that’s going to continue with more border.
An erasure that reads: Trump? what he knows Look, border border border.
An erasure that reads: Trump? what he knows Look, border border border.

Abrazos,

= José =

community news & new Debate series poems

José Angel Araguz Leave a comment

This week, I’d like to share some news from writers in my communities as well as a few opportunities in the world. Also this week: a new installment in my Debate series of erasures (for more info on the series, check out the original post). Enjoy!

Community News

First up, happy to share that poet and essayist Danielle Cadena Deulen’s third poetry collection, Desire Museum, was recently awarded a 2024 Lambda Literary Award! If you’re interested in hearing them read the final poem from Desire Museum, you can find it on YouTube HERE.

I reviewed Deulen’s second collection for The Volta Blog a ways back and also shared some of their work here on the Influence.

I’m also happy to share that poet and translator Dana Delibovi’s project, SWEET HUNTER: The Complete Poems of St. Teresa of Ávila, A New Translation and Commentary is available for pre-order. The book is scheduled to be released on October 15, 2024—St. Teresa’s feast day from Monkfish Publishing. Learn more about the project on the book’s site.

I had the privilege of getting to spend time with the collection and wrote the following blurb:

If, as Joseph Brodsky once declared, the translator of poetry is a rival to the original poet, then Sweet Hunter: The Complete Poems of St. Teresa of Ávila finds poet, critic, and translator Dana Delibovi answering the challenge with full commitment. The rivalry here, however, is not one of competing techniques. Rather, poem by poem, Delibovi renders Ávila’s vision with a clarity faithful to the original but which works in tones and nuances that speak to our contemporary moment. This tension across language and time presents parallel efforts and passions. Delibovi’s notes which accompany each poem add further depth and provide a running commentary where Delibovi’s own voice mixes with that of previous translators, ultimately creating a lively meditation filled with insightful details from Ávila’s life and practice. This layered approach is apt in engaging with the work of a mystic, work shaped by urgency and faith as much as craft. What Delibovi has gifted us is much more than a selection of poems: it’s a wholly distinct poetic journey.

—José Angel Araguz, author of Rotura and Ruin & Want

Lastly, I’m happy to announce a new book of poems, Matters for You Alone, by Leslie Williams recently published by Slant Books.

From the publisher: “Matters for You Alone is a spiritual exploration of friendship: its shapes and duties, stresses and blames—and its absolute necessity. The book takes its title from Jean-Pierre de Caussade’s classic, Abandonment to Divine Providence, as it strives to interpret everyday encounters and events—the domestic, the mundane—in light of the eternal.”

Check out “Friend Shift” featured in the collection.

Finally, here are the latest additions in the Debate series (for more info on the series, check out the original post).

Debate Series: takes 3.1 & 3.2

  • An erasure poem that reads: we changed the border with border police now the border patrols me.
  • An erasure poem that reads: we border the border now the border ends in a president.

Abrazos,

= José =