Curandera

by Carmen Tafolla, Norma E. Cantú (Photographer)

Featuring historic photos of the Chicano Movement in San Antonio and a new introduction, this is the 30th-anniversary edition of Carmen Tafolla’s first solo poetry collection. Having filled a cultural and linguistic void in 1983, when it was first published, this compilation showcases the poet's creation of a literary language from the natural Spanish and English code-switching of the barrios of San Antonio. Banned in Arizona along with many other multicultural books, this work celebrates bilingual and bicultural diversity and the power of individual imagination while simultaneously examining social inequities. Many poems from this book have been widely anthologized throughout the past three decades.

Genres: Poetry, Banned Books

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very important volume was reissued this year: Curandera by Carmen Tafolla, one of the madrinas of Chicano/a poetry and newly appointed Poet Laureate of San Antonio. Originally intended to celebrate the volume’s 40th anniversary, this edition—which includes historical photographs of the Chicano literary movement in San Antonio, a new afterword, and a new foreword by Dr. Norma E. Cantú—was issued early so the emerging librotraficante effort could ship copies to Arizona, where Curandera, along with many other works of Mexican-American literature, has been effectively banned. This vital ur-text explores not only the variegated topology of Hispanic experience (“and when I dream dreams…,” “cop car’s bulleted brains,” “ancient house”), but also its unique voices and social registers (“los corts,” “¡ajay!”). Many pieces serve as discussions of the creative process and literature (“caminitos,” “quality literature”), underscoring reality: although they have now been “critiqued in the PMLA,” Chicano/a authors are still attacked in Arizona and elsewhere.

[Karen]

This book was banned by Arizona schools.

[Connor Leavitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Subaltern, meet speech. The fact that Arizona schools banned the book speaks all the more of its necessity.

[Chanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite piece from this beautiful book of poetry:

VOYAGE

I was the fourth ship
Behind Niña, Pinta, Santa María,
Lost at sea while watching a seagull,
Following the wind and sunset skies,
While the others set their charts.

I was the fourth ship.
Breathing in salt and flying with clouds,
Sailing moonbreezes and starvision nights,
Rolling into the wave and savoring its lull,
While the others pointed their prows.

I was the fourth ship.
Playfully in love with the sea,
Eternally entwined with the sky,
Forever vowed to my voyage,
While the others shouted "Land."