LA Llorona on the Longfellow Bridge: Poetry Y Otras Movidas, 1985-2001

by Gaspar de Alba, Alicia

• ISBN13: 9781558853997
• ISBN10: 1558853995
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Arte Publico Pr

Summary

Cultural Writing. Poetry. Essays. As a leading interpreter of border life and culture, Allicia Gaspar Alba, a lesbian chicana poet, storyteller, and essayist explores the borders and limits of place, body, and language through a painful series of moves and losses. In sections divided into each of the places she visited in her travels, Alba incorporates the Mexican archetypal wailing woman who wanders in search of her lost children. LA LLORONA proves to be more than an archetype: it is a tour guide through the constant presence of the poet's voice. Alicia Gapar de Alba is also the co- editor of AZTLAN: A JOURNAL OF CHICANO STUDIES and the author of the acclaimed novel Sor Juana's Second Dream (University of New Mexico Press, 1999), and The Mystery of Survival and Other Stories (Bilingual Review Press, 1993). She is a professor of Chicano/a Studies and English at the University of California Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Tracking La Llorona	v
Departure (1985)
Crooked Foot Speaks/Habla Pata Chueca	3	(4)
Iowa City (1985-1986)
In the Shadow of Greater Things	7	(2)
After 21 Years, A Postcard from My Father	9	(2)
Dust to Dust	11	(2)
Holy Ground	13	(4)
Boston (1986-1990)
The Philosophy of Frijoles	17	(2)
Gardenias for El Gran Gurú	19	(3)
70 Moons	22	(1)
Bamba Basilica	23	(2)
Caldo de Pollo	25	(2)
Confessions	27	(3)
Pilgrim's Progress	30	(2)
Sor Juanas Litany in the Subjunctive	32	(2)
Listening to Our Bones	34	(2)
Karmic Revolution	36	(2)
Galloping	38	(2)
Literary Wetback	40	(7)
Elemental Journey: 7 Days in the Woods (July 1989)
1. Adirondack Park	47	(2)
2. Swimming in Limekiln Lake	49	(1)
3. Waking Up in Ontario: Reward	50	(2)
4. The Niagara River Speaks Three Languages	52	(3)
5. Rainstorm: The Gorge	55	(1)
6. Piseco Lake	56	(1)
7. Point Comfort: Coming Home	57	(4)
Albuquerque (1990-1992)
Autumn Equinox in the Sandias, 1990	61	(2)
Bluebirds	63	(2)
Chamizal	65	(4)
Name that Border	69	(8)
Los Angeles (1992-1999)
The Waters of Grief	77	(3)
Huitlacoche Crepes	80	(3)
Neighbors	83	(2)
Descarada/No Shame: A[bridged] Politics of Location	85	(10)
Land of the Dead (1994-2001)
Carmen's Song	95	(4)
Blackjack	99	(2)
Culto a la Muerte	101	(2)
Witch Museum	103	(3)
Kyrie Eleison for La Llorona	106	(3)
Eclipse (September 11th)	109	(3)
El Encuentro	112	(4)
Acknowledgments	116