Regalado, Alexandra: Matria

Matria by Alexandra Regalado (Black Lawrence Press, paperback)

Publication Date: June 30, 2017

Publisher Marketing: Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. Winner of the 2017 St. Lawrence Book Award."Regalado's elegant debut, MATRIA, introduces us to a world where 'leaf-cutter ants... could easily strip the lime sapling bare in the course of one summer night.' These poems are so attuned to the intricacies of violence and desire, the pulse and rhythms of bringing new life into this world, and the cleaving that follows. I'm so grateful to hear this brave and beautiful new voice, a mighty force to be reckoned with—one who promises us, 'Yes, I will be the hunter, I will start / fires... their faces will pale in my darkness.'"—Aimee Nezhukumatathil

"Reading Alexandra Regalado's majestic first book, MATRIA, I stumble back through thedecades searching for a poet whose debut feels as deeply realized, as richly imagined—TracyK. Smith, Carolyn Forché, Robert Hass? There is such a surfeit of life and language in thisbook, which ranges geographically from Florida to El Salvador, and thematically across artand identity, class and power, motherhood and sisterhood, life and death. MATRIA reminds usthat words will never be deterred by walls, and nothing enriches American culture morethan the crossing of borders."—Campbell McGrath

"Truly remarkable poetry draws new connections between the emotional, physical, andpsychological landscapes our lives move through. This is especially true of MATRIA, astunning collection by Alexandra Lytton Regalado, who moves us among and between theintersections of motherhood and childhood, womanhood and country-hood. With arrestinglanguage full of grace and empathy, these poems dimension the uidity and complexity ofthese relationships as both witness and the witnessed, mother and child, native and foreigner,in both English and Spanish."—Richard Blanco