Rosa Alcala was born and raised in
Paterson, New jersey by her parents who were both factory workers.
She is currently a poet and a translator. She went to Brown
University for her MFA in Creative Writing and the Sate of New York
at Buffalo for her Ph. D. in English. She is the author of two
chapbooks: Some Maritime Disasters This Century and
Undoumentary. Her poems are featured in The Wind Shifts:
New Latino Poetry, and journals
such as Chain, Barrow street, Mandorla, Tarpaulin Sky,
and The Brooklyn Rail.
Many pf her poems talk about labor and money because she grew up
around hardship. She is very interested in the way that class
intercepts with other markers of identity. She has translated Cecilia
Vicuna's El Templo and
Cloud-net. Her
translations have been featured in With Their Hands and
Their Eyes: Maya Textiles, Mirrors of a Worldview, The Selected Poems
of Lourdes Vazquez, and Oxford
Book of Latin America Poetry.
She believes that translating is a political act and by translating
one country's poems, another country has a window into a different
culture, set of beliefs, and political views. She has given talks and
readings in America, Spain, Cuba, and Scotland. She is currently in
Al Paso, Texas were she works at the University of Texas at El Paso
and teaches in the Department of Creative Writing and the Bilingual
MFA Program.
The poems by Rosa Alcala in the anthology The Wind Shifts serve as a bridge between the reader and the writer, especially as they explore unity by using metaphors,
In Migration, she doesn't talk about legal migration, but a scandalous one. Some key words serve as metaphors such as "gate" and "attacking" which don't talk literally represent a gate and attacking. They are metaphors for sexual boundaries. The "gate" is a place of the body which is private and one shouldn't enter without permission. Attacking refers to physical and sexual contact. While this poem is sexual, it does talk about unity. The language, diction, and title, may lead the reader to assume that the poem is about legal boundaries and borders such as the border of Mexico and America. In reality, Rosa is showing how everyone is unified in this affair. Everyone has sexual desires, but not everyone has an affair. She is also telling the reader that there is a choice by wondering, "Which direction to take: forward or forfeit?"
In The Sixth Avenue Go-Go Lounge, Rosa suggests unity by sin within a night club. When she mentions the economy. There is a questionable and unusual "dancer to drinker ratio suggests the inflated economy" which would effect everyone. While the effects may not be distributed equally, everyone feels a (slight or major) difference. She also mentions that all of this collective sin is happening on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. An example of a metaphor is when Paulie says, "I can make you that. But it won't taste like you remember." She isn't talking about a drink like one may assume, she is talking about sexual actions.
Lastly, in Patria, talks about politics, which Rosa thinks is a very important part of her work. Rosa manages to use a simile in this poem. She says, "I carry grief as blatant as propaganda" which goes hand in hand with metaphors. A metaphor is used when she talks about a mother. The 'mother' is actually a group of principles, values, and ethics which have the potential to unite people (and maybe the world).
The thing I wonder the most about Rosa with her poems is that she brings up several sexual connotations, so it leads me to wonder if her background ties into an inspiration, or if she shared a personal connection to these possible scenarios? It may shed a little light on her inspiration for writing.
ReplyDeleteYour poet really resembled my poet a lot when it came down to how they got their education and what type of work they have out. The only difference was that the content of the work is very different. It's awesome that you went beyond the meanings of the poems and grasped what she was trying to say.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think she chooses the subject of sexuality as a vehicle for writing about subjects such as migration and borders? I'd like to hear more about the theme of unity? Is this a consensual unity or a forced unity? Does her bridging of interpersonal borders suggest some of the ways--good and bad--that we might cross borders?
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