How to Pull Apart the Earth

by Karla Cordero

Overview

FINALIST OF THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL LATINO BOOK AWARDS WINNER OF THE 2019 SAN DEIGO BOOK AWARDS AWARD-WINNING FINALIST IN THE POETRY CATEGORY OF 2019 INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS How to Pull Apart the Earth is an homage to the intrinsic thread that weaves the culture of Mexico together with the United States, and the echo of colonization that works to erase it. Cordero skillfully exemplifies the complexity & beauty of growing up in a borderland, and the sacrifices paid for the dream.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781945649257
Publisher:	Foundation Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/12/2018
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.25(d)

About the Author

Karla Cordero is a descendant of the Chichimeca people from northern Mexico. She is a Macondo and VONA fellow, a recipient of The Loft Spoken Word Immersion Fellowship, and the San Diego State University Global Diversity Award. Her work has appeared in several journals and anthologies including Bettering American Poetry, Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands, PANK, Anomaly and BOAAT. Karla currently serves as an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at MiraCosta College and San Diego City College.

Table of Contents

i

Born at the Circus 2

I'm Asked About Home 3

Bisabuela Married a Spaniard 4

Where I Inheret My Silence 5

Nopal en el Frente 7

History of Walls 8

Driving Down Highway 111 9

His Jawbone Caged My Grandfather's Skin 10

Watching The Green Mile for the First Time & I Dream That Night Knowing John Coffey Could Have Also Been My Father 11

Arrival 12

I Watch All the Drought the Desert Carries 13

Everything Dies Here 14

In Praise of Snow 15

Christmas 16

Tenochtitlan 17

ii

I Once Cracked Open the Earth 20

Hija de la Cosecha 21

The Time My Momma Gave Me the Chancla for Letting Andrew Jackson Escape Out the Window 22

Momma Knows All the Monsters' Hidden Teeth 23

I Learned to Tiptoe for: 24

In A Dream a Small Statue of La Virgen de Guadalupe Prepares to Dive from the Bookshelf 25

El Rancho 92' 26

Truths at the All-American Canal 27

A Lesson in Sewing 28

Abuela is a Machete Wrapped in Her Favorite Apron 29

A Brown Girl's Blues 30

Abuela's Hair 31

False Security: A Story Told from Eve's Ribcage 32

Leaked Audio from a Detention Center 33

iii

Don't be Afraid to Speak: 36

Metamorphosis for Speaking Spanish 37

Parts & Definitions for Mestiza-Mouth 38

Chicana Learns Survival from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 39

Safe House 40

This Skin Be 41

Zoo of Eden 42

Deity 44

What Becomes of War & Name 46

The First Time I Met the KKK 47

My Country is Panting 48

Dinner with Cornel West 49

A Spanish to English Translation on Sweet Things Gone Sour 50

Explosions Ripped Through a Fireworks Market North of Mexico City on Tuesday Killing at Least 35 People 51

How to be a Ghost on Earth 52

Synonyms for Donald Trump 54

To Understand Border 55

iv

Notes on How to Pull Apart the Earth 58

Surviving the Flood 62

La Llorona Retires the Hollering from Her Ears 63

Reincarnation 64

Where the Wild Tongues Are 65

Calexico 66

Leaving 68

Holding the Night Sky 69

Prayer 70

Gathering the Fragments 71

Editorial Reviews

"Cordero guides us to the collective memory found in her own personal history, reminding us that we are rooted in the same familial tenderness." –O, The Oprah Magazine

From the Publisher