First published 2017
Erika L. Sánchez writes as the daughter of undocumented Mexican immigrants, caught between worlds that never fully accept her. She moves through moments of sexual awakening, family expectations rooted in faith and work, and an America that views her with suspicion. Her mother wrings her hands in worry. The poet puts her underwear on backwards after her first sexual experience, wanting nothing more than a sandwich but finding only confusion and sadness. Sánchez expands beyond her personal story to examine the lives of sex workers, drug traffickers, factory laborers, and artists who share her experience of existing between languages and countries. She confronts shame about her body, racism in daily encounters, and violence that targets people like her family. The collection moves between intimate moments of grief and broader scenes of xenophobic America. Through concrete images and journalistic precision, Sánchez captures what survival looks like when you live between despair and possibility, between the living and the dead.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, identity-crisis
Setting: America
Period: 21st-century
96 pages · ebook · Graywolf Press
Content warnings: racism, violence