That Place by Ana Martínez Orizondo

In this moving debut, Ana Martínez Orizondo pens a collection that takes us on a visceral journey of pain and passion through childhood to womanhood. Beautifully blending the Spanish and English of her Cuban-American upbringing, these are poems that fully evoke the senses, that invoke our mothers (Mother Earth, those who birthed us, and those who have mothered or unmothered us in some way), and that force us to both examine and escape ourselves. These are poems born out of relational trauma that emerge on the other side — rising out of the ashes to embrace the physical life before us, to inhabit and enjoy the body we are in. “as you plant the basil, sink your fingers in the soil, see how far they can go,” Ana writes. This is a poet of beauty, of magic and mystery, and That Place will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading, leaving you hungry for more. I look forward to seeing where Ana takes us next.

–Nicole Tallman, Poetry Ambassador for Miami-Dade County, Florida, and author of FERSACE, Poems for the People, and Something Kindred