A must-read. Every time I turned the page I kept nodding my head in agreeance, in anger and frustration because there are so many truths that hurt but motivate to keep speaking your truth to stand up for what you believe in. This book is amazing! I felt Natalie’s words are so daring, so real they stand out and stay with you. This collection is a must because it sheds light on the injustices that come our way when we are young and well into womanhood, with resilience and bravery that exists in all of us, and each piece spoke to that. This book is raw and beautiful combining pieces from pop culture and tradition in Spanish and English, which spoke to breaking the borders that society creates for us as well as the ones we create for ourselves. You have to read Natalie’s words because they spark fire and rain within you.
Go forth and get a copy!!
I received an e-arc copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
About this book: In her striking second collection, Natalie Scenters-Zapico sets her unflinching gaze once again on the borders of things. Lima :: Limón illuminates both the sweet and the sour of the immigrant experience, of life as a woman in the U.S. and Mexico, and of the politics of the present day. Drawing inspiration from the music of her childhood, her lyrical poems focus on the often-tested resilience of women. Scenters-Zapico writes heartbreakingly about domestic violence and its toxic duality of macho versus hembra, of masculinity versus femininity, and throws into harsh relief the all-too-normalized pain that women endure. Her sharp verse and intense anecdotes brand her poems into the reader; images like the Virgin Mary crying glass tears and a border fence that leaves never-healing scars intertwine as she stares down femicide and gang violence alike. Unflinching, Scenters-Zapico highlights the hardships and stigma immigrants face on both sides of the border, her desire to create change shining through in every line. Lima :: Limón is grounding and urgent, a collection that speaks out against violence and works toward healing.
Natalie Scenters-Zapico is a fronteriza from the sister cities of El Paso, Texas, U.S.A., and Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, México. She is the author of Lima :: Limón(Copper Canyon 2019), which has been reviewed widely in prominent periodicals including The New Yorker, and The Verging Cities (Center for Literary Publishing 2015), which won the PENAmerican/Joyce Osterweil Award, GLCA’s New Writers Award, and more. She has won fellowships from the Lannan Foundation (2017), CantoMundo (2015), and a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation (2018). Her poems have appeared in a wide range of anthologies and literary magazines including Best American Poetry 2015, POETRY, Tin House, Kenyon Review, and more.
She teaches poetry workshops in English and Spanish through the Latina/o Studies Department at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.
Lemmon Avenue 