PALATABLE WOMAN by Marlena Maduro Baraf

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This title will be released on March 12, 2027

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Precise, vivid, provocative, the poems in Palatable Woman play with words and sounds–a short zapatéo flamenco on the wooden table–as they address the hard realities of our time. The poet asks, Who am I? Who will I speak for? It’s a world-size gathering of poems that invite the collective “we” of generations, the faceted self. There are dream poems and poems that make use of the tools of magical realism. Ultimately, Palatable Woman–a debut collection–celebrates the border between cultures and languages, a fertile boundary that invites experimentation.

#poetry #identity #origins #diversity #spanglish

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Marlena Maduro Baraf is a memoirist and poet, a naturalized American citizen who still breathes the language of her childhood in Panama. Her work explores linguistic and cultural borders, identity, intimacy, and the delight of words. She is author of the memoir, At the Narrow Waist of the World, and co-author of Three Poets/Tres Poetas. She writes the newsletter Breathing in Spanish that features other Americans and their stories.

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PRAISE:

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In her thrilling debut collection, the speaker in Marlena Maduro Baraf’s Palatable Woman is anything but. Readers will savor the sound and sense and shape of her words, and delight in each twist and turn, as we learn a few things such as: “Lips are the first to fade,” in poems that are vivid and brimming with color. They speak to us with a delicate but driving beat. This poet knows how to mix clarity and mystery, intimacy and reserve, as we ponder and question what it means to be, for example: “a palatable old / a palatable white / palatable jew / a palatable latina.” When she tells us: “I was born before I was born….” we are right there with her, exploring the faceted self, and each persona she brings to the page.

–Elaine Sexton, author of Site Specific: New & Selected

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Marlena Maduro Baraf’s Palatable Woman is a delicious read. These are poems written by a woman supremely comfortable in her skin—Look, she says, look at me. But ultimately this collection celebrates the we—of family, selves, cultures, art—and the mysteries and joys of looking, seeing, and speaking, in both English and Spanish. These poems dance together and on the tongue—Ahl-bah-ree-kok-keh…. she says, I must save apricot for a poem/where I am not cornered into speaking/ordinary truths.

–Jennifer Stewart Miller, author of Thief

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