In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month and "Dia de los Meurtos"- my pick of the month for poetic inspiration: Gloria Anzaldúa's Bordelands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza. (Cover Art: Ehècatl, The Wind by Pamela Wilson and skeleton drawing by unknown artist.)

It would be trite and an absolute discredit to say that Gloria Anzaldua’s book Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza is an inspiring and thoughtful read. The depth of this book provokes more than just sympathy and asks for more than mere understanding of what ‘borderlands’ actually are. More dedicated and grounded in action than in story, Anzaldua relates to her readers a connection that we seem to share- the loss of our true/ historical selves and the journey to reclaim that natural individual from man made limitations and boundaries.

When setting out to experience this book, I was afraid that I would not be able to understand or relate with Anzaldua because of my inability to read Spanish; this proved to not be the case at all. Even though Anzaldua writes a great portion of her book in Spanish and in other borderland languages, her thoughts are still well understood and the reader doesn’t lose much in the book’s over arching effect. I felt enriched by the presence of the other languages within the text and elated that Anzaldua doesn’t cater to any single language or idea.

Throughout the first half of this book Anzaldua uses both poetry and prose to communicate with her reader. Most of the time, when I come across this in other books, I become impatient with the fact that many authors don’t blend the two styles of writing, but that the poetry and the prose seem to be fighting with each other and their relationship becomes divisive in those books. I felt a deep gratitude that Anzaldua melds the two together so seamlessly. The transitions are very smooth from form to form and from language to language, which I think plays into Anzaldua’s definition of borderlands perfectly.

What I find astounding is that by reading this work I feel, and this freely, as though I am a part of this borderland, a part of her world- without being forced. Anzaldua doesn’t trick her readers. She doesn’t hide around corners with a mirror ready to jump out at the unsuspecting reader; but that what she speaks of is so pertinent to everyone everywhere, she just cannot be ignored. For those that reside in the borderlands, we cannot afford to ignore her.
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I’m still trying my own hand at incorporating some of Anzaldua’s writing techniques into my own poetry. Would I would like to achieve, above anything else, what she exemplifies in La Frontera as that seamlessness between the borders of her poems. I think I have only tried this is in figuring out how best to organize my work into my first book, so that the reader not only comes away with a strong sense of story and emotion, but also that the poems don’t seem alone and so individual in their space. I want my own poetic work to function as a family, very different from each other, yet very much related to each other. My hope is that my work will preserve the smooth transitions between styles and voices within the poems; I think this is important in seizing the possibilities within the transliminal space and in trying to live beyond it.
-A. P. Stone