BIWOC Poet Spotlight * Hispanic Heritage Month * Subs Open

PUBLISHING NEW WOMEN POETS SINCE 1997

SUBMISSIONS OPEN TILL NOVEMBER 15

for the 2021 Perugia Press Prize

for a first or second book of poetry by a woman

Check out guidelines on our website & read a recent blog post

on changes related to our contest and prize.

A little bird wants you to know about our new release...

Now in Color by Jacqueline Balderrama

Winner of the 2020 Perugia Press Prize

for a first or second book of poetry by a woman

Balderrama’s collection explores the multigenerational immigrant experience of Mexican-Americans who have escaped violence, faced pressures to assimilate, and now seek to reconnect to a fragmented past. Through the poetics of witness, ekphrasis, portraiture, and family mythos, Now in Color deepens our understanding of hybrid identities and calls attention to those impacted by tensions along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

& ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY

A poet, her bird, and her book

Emerging BIWOC Poet Spotlight

September 2020 Poet: Kwoya Fagin Maples

This Poem Resists with Joy

Hearing her own sky-blue vowels resound
and return across the clearing, Vivienne
is finally sated. Not told—here in the green photo
of her papa’s wooded land—to shush,
be quiet, or the neighbors—
Now, her bell voice echoes
high-pitched snippets of “Row Your Boat”
unhindered by suburb or road. My little redbird.
She lies on her back on the trampoline,
her white breath coming in pants.
I want to adequately describe her here:
her fuzzy cornrowed head resting,
small body relaxed against the black top of the trampoline
her papa scrubbed clean just that morning.
All day the soapy bed dried in an uncommon January
marked with sunlight and excessive spring.
I want you to see her butterscotch face, ruddy from leaps,
breath reaching the clouds, eyes
wondering.

from Mend (UP of Kentucky)

To read more about this poet and her work, check out our blog post.

This is the first post in what will be a monthly series we’re curating featuring poems by women of color in the early stages of their careers. This came out of a suggestion from our newsletter subscriber Dorina Pena that we were eager to implement. Thank you, Dorina!

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