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Blackbirds in the Pomegranate Tree
Mary Ellen Sanger had made her life in Mexico for 17 years when she suddenly found herself in prison in Oaxaca, Mexico, arrested on invented charges. She spent 33 days in Ixcotel State Prison in the fall of 2003.
These stories of the women she met there, illuminate her biggest surprise and her only consolation in prison: the solidarity that formed among the women she lived, ate, swept and passed long days with while inside.
Nine lyrical tales show the depth of emotions that insist on their own space, even in these harshest of circumstances.
The largest and brawniest woman in the prison, doing time for armed robbery, kills a rat with her foot, then turns to the author for help with a very special letter.
Another young woman, only nineteen years old, has already been in for three years, guilty of kidnapping her own child.
And Ana, a political prisoner, teaches the author about creative ways to turn the tide, one including frog-eating snakes.
Mary Ellen weaves her own tale through the stories. Accused of a crime that doesn't exist by a powerful man in Mexico, she depends on the fierce solidarity of friends on the outside, and a brilliant lawyer who trusts in the rule of law... even in Mexico.
The women incarcerated in Ixcotel State Prison said that the blackbirds chattered in the lone pomegranate tree in the courtyard whenever a woman was about to be released.
They are chattering now.
________________________________
Excerpt from introduction by Elena Poniatowska:
Mary Ellen’s hands blister, but she never shows her wounds. Nor does she show her resulting callouses. She assembles in the courtyard and joins the circle of women who at first reject her for her blond hair and her blue eyes. She shares pistachios with them, and when she innocently tells them that she likes to write poetry but the words won’t come here in the pen, Concha sends her a lifeline:
"Don’t worry, blondie, someday you’ll write the good stuff again.”
...
“Blackbirds in the Pomegranate Tree” is a life lesson. If they were to throw me in jail, I would carry it with me to read each night, as some read the Bible or the Gospels. In its pages I would find strength and faith in humankind, and I would know that to believe in “the others” is a path to salvation.
I suppose and believe that I am not wrong in saying that for Mary Ellen, Mexico is a woman who one day, will find herself.
These stories of the women she met there, illuminate her biggest surprise and her only consolation in prison: the solidarity that formed among the women she lived, ate, swept and passed long days with while inside.
Nine lyrical tales show the depth of emotions that insist on their own space, even in these harshest of circumstances.
The largest and brawniest woman in the prison, doing time for armed robbery, kills a rat with her foot, then turns to the author for help with a very special letter.
Another young woman, only nineteen years old, has already been in for three years, guilty of kidnapping her own child.
And Ana, a political prisoner, teaches the author about creative ways to turn the tide, one including frog-eating snakes.
Mary Ellen weaves her own tale through the stories. Accused of a crime that doesn't exist by a powerful man in Mexico, she depends on the fierce solidarity of friends on the outside, and a brilliant lawyer who trusts in the rule of law... even in Mexico.
The women incarcerated in Ixcotel State Prison said that the blackbirds chattered in the lone pomegranate tree in the courtyard whenever a woman was about to be released.
They are chattering now.
________________________________
Excerpt from introduction by Elena Poniatowska:
Mary Ellen’s hands blister, but she never shows her wounds. Nor does she show her resulting callouses. She assembles in the courtyard and joins the circle of women who at first reject her for her blond hair and her blue eyes. She shares pistachios with them, and when she innocently tells them that she likes to write poetry but the words won’t come here in the pen, Concha sends her a lifeline:
"Don’t worry, blondie, someday you’ll write the good stuff again.”
...
“Blackbirds in the Pomegranate Tree” is a life lesson. If they were to throw me in jail, I would carry it with me to read each night, as some read the Bible or the Gospels. In its pages I would find strength and faith in humankind, and I would know that to believe in “the others” is a path to salvation.
I suppose and believe that I am not wrong in saying that for Mary Ellen, Mexico is a woman who one day, will find herself.
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
260 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 5, 2013
51 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
About the author
Mary Ellen Sanger
10 books25 followersMary Ellen Sanger lived in Mexico for 17 years, and has published short stories, creative nonfiction and poetry in Spanish and English in Mexico, the US and online. She led bilingual workshops for New York Writers Coalition for six years, and is currently Associate Director with Colorado State University’s Community Literacy Center. Since leaving Mexico, Mary Ellen has been involved as a mentor and member of the fiction and poetry committees for the PEN Prison Writing Project, and as a post-production coordinator for the Emmy award-winning Mexican documentary "Presunto Culpable” (Presumed Guilty).
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 18, 2014
This was a beautiful and haunting book that I will be thinking about for some time. Reading this book was fulfilling, like looking at a detailed painting that is beautiful yet horrifying. Each word seems to be chosen with care. Mary Ellen paints a picture that is at once harsh and stark and yet at the same time soft and tender.
I first met Mary Ellen about 21 years ago when I lived in Los Cabos, Mexico. I had moved to Mexico to "take her place" working in a seaside resort. All I heard was Maria Elena this and Maria Elena that. To be honest, before I met her, I was sick of hearing about her because everyone compared me to her and I didn't measure up.
But once I met Mary Ellen, I understood the fascination. While I loved Mexico, her people and her food, Mary Ellen was in love with Mexico. I always knew my stay was temporary. If it hadn't been for Ixcotel, I think Mary Ellen would have stayed there forever. It was a part of her. She knows more about Mexico and its people than many Mexicans with whom I am acquainted.
I started receiving Mary Ellen’s short stories about Mexico after I had returned to the United States. They were always rich with information and visual images. They took me back to the country and people I loved and missed. When I learned about her incarceration, I was shocked. Mary Ellen, with her sensitive and caring personality, is the last person that belongs in a Mexican prison. I felt helpless. I think the scariest thing of all was the realization that it could have been me. It could have been any one of us.
In Blackbirds in the Pomegranate tree, Mary Ellen does not judge her fellow inmates. She doesn’t try to define them. She simply tells their stories, from armed robber to innocent teenager, she shares with us the moments they shared with her. She shares their hopes in a time of hopelessness, trapped in a Mexican justice system that was never designed to serve them. In doing so, she brings them to life and we come to care about them the way she does.
The saddest thing about this book is that it doesn’t have a wider distribution as these women deserve to have their stories shared with a much larger audience.
I first met Mary Ellen about 21 years ago when I lived in Los Cabos, Mexico. I had moved to Mexico to "take her place" working in a seaside resort. All I heard was Maria Elena this and Maria Elena that. To be honest, before I met her, I was sick of hearing about her because everyone compared me to her and I didn't measure up.
But once I met Mary Ellen, I understood the fascination. While I loved Mexico, her people and her food, Mary Ellen was in love with Mexico. I always knew my stay was temporary. If it hadn't been for Ixcotel, I think Mary Ellen would have stayed there forever. It was a part of her. She knows more about Mexico and its people than many Mexicans with whom I am acquainted.
I started receiving Mary Ellen’s short stories about Mexico after I had returned to the United States. They were always rich with information and visual images. They took me back to the country and people I loved and missed. When I learned about her incarceration, I was shocked. Mary Ellen, with her sensitive and caring personality, is the last person that belongs in a Mexican prison. I felt helpless. I think the scariest thing of all was the realization that it could have been me. It could have been any one of us.
In Blackbirds in the Pomegranate tree, Mary Ellen does not judge her fellow inmates. She doesn’t try to define them. She simply tells their stories, from armed robber to innocent teenager, she shares with us the moments they shared with her. She shares their hopes in a time of hopelessness, trapped in a Mexican justice system that was never designed to serve them. In doing so, she brings them to life and we come to care about them the way she does.
The saddest thing about this book is that it doesn’t have a wider distribution as these women deserve to have their stories shared with a much larger audience.
March 20, 2019
What a moving and well written account of the author´s 17 years in Mexico including the few months as an inmate in Ixcotel State Prison.
The author, Mary Ellen Sanger or the Mexican version Maria Elena, loved Mexico from visiting as a youth. She finally quit her job to move to Mexico. Her dream come true. She worked in the tourism industry for many years but didn´t feel connected to the "real" Mexico. After moving around to different parts of Mexico, she settled as a caretaker for an aged American Expat outside of Oaxaca City. She took care of him and became part of the village community. The American Expat and his late wife had decided to donate their property to a university in Mexico City after they both had died. After she died, which is when the author moved in as his caretaker, the university wanted his property. She and two others who lived on the property were arrested and thrown into Ixcotel State Prison.
Her description of Mexican (in)justice and legal process was an eye opener. She also told the stories of some of the other women inmates like Citlali, Natalia, Berta, Ana among others. Their stories are often about the crime they did or another part of the Mexican (in)justice. More importantly, she told how the women depended on each other and how they survived without their freedom
Her writing is beautiful and poetic and full of metaphors like the description of the location of Ixcotel. Where is it? "Somewhere past where the owl took off for the woods." After her return to New York after her prison ordeal, she finally cried. And, the tears flowed and flowed. Her sadness "filled the house with tears. They stained the walls and watered the plants. We used them for cooking pasta and for mopping the floor." How exquisite is this!
highly recommend it.
The author, Mary Ellen Sanger or the Mexican version Maria Elena, loved Mexico from visiting as a youth. She finally quit her job to move to Mexico. Her dream come true. She worked in the tourism industry for many years but didn´t feel connected to the "real" Mexico. After moving around to different parts of Mexico, she settled as a caretaker for an aged American Expat outside of Oaxaca City. She took care of him and became part of the village community. The American Expat and his late wife had decided to donate their property to a university in Mexico City after they both had died. After she died, which is when the author moved in as his caretaker, the university wanted his property. She and two others who lived on the property were arrested and thrown into Ixcotel State Prison.
Her description of Mexican (in)justice and legal process was an eye opener. She also told the stories of some of the other women inmates like Citlali, Natalia, Berta, Ana among others. Their stories are often about the crime they did or another part of the Mexican (in)justice. More importantly, she told how the women depended on each other and how they survived without their freedom
Her writing is beautiful and poetic and full of metaphors like the description of the location of Ixcotel. Where is it? "Somewhere past where the owl took off for the woods." After her return to New York after her prison ordeal, she finally cried. And, the tears flowed and flowed. Her sadness "filled the house with tears. They stained the walls and watered the plants. We used them for cooking pasta and for mopping the floor." How exquisite is this!
highly recommend it.
March 21, 2019
Mary Ellen left behind the corporate jungle to read in the shade of the steps of a pyramid in Mexico. She began her new life in tourism but eventually found her way to a sheltered patio in Oaxaca as a caretaker to an elderly widower.
Until, one night she was bustled from her residence to the Ixcotel State Prison, one of the most overcrowded and unhygienic facilities in Oaxaca. There she was held for 33 days on fabricated charges.
However, her story is just the prelude to the stories of the women she met inside. Concha, arrested for armed robbery, who found love at last inside the stone walls. Berta, whose husband had tended sorghum interspersed with marijuana for a wealthy landowner. Susa, heroin addict earning drug money with a shoeshine service for visitors. Natalia, arrested so that the wife of her lover could take her child. Ana, a human rights lawyer jailed because of her work on behalf of rural farmers. Citlali, a curandera who spoke only Chinantec and her infant daughter Xochitl. Lucia and her infant son Sebastian, whose 5-year-old daughter was in a group home allowed to visit once a month. Soraya, imprisoned for refusing the advances of the mayor. Flor, dying of a tumor from the bullet in the back of her head.
Mary Ellen was not the same women upon her release and neither will you be after you read these haunting stories from the women at Ixcotel State Prison.
Until, one night she was bustled from her residence to the Ixcotel State Prison, one of the most overcrowded and unhygienic facilities in Oaxaca. There she was held for 33 days on fabricated charges.
However, her story is just the prelude to the stories of the women she met inside. Concha, arrested for armed robbery, who found love at last inside the stone walls. Berta, whose husband had tended sorghum interspersed with marijuana for a wealthy landowner. Susa, heroin addict earning drug money with a shoeshine service for visitors. Natalia, arrested so that the wife of her lover could take her child. Ana, a human rights lawyer jailed because of her work on behalf of rural farmers. Citlali, a curandera who spoke only Chinantec and her infant daughter Xochitl. Lucia and her infant son Sebastian, whose 5-year-old daughter was in a group home allowed to visit once a month. Soraya, imprisoned for refusing the advances of the mayor. Flor, dying of a tumor from the bullet in the back of her head.
Mary Ellen was not the same women upon her release and neither will you be after you read these haunting stories from the women at Ixcotel State Prison.
April 19, 2020
What a heart wrenching well written book! I don't want to cheapen it by comparing it to Orange is the New Black (the book not the show), but both really humanizes the people that are incarcerated and lets the reader see that there is no stereotype, one size fits all label that you can assign.
The writing and the descriptions were really good. You could feel the love that Sanger has for Mexico and tell that she really cared for the women she met and how they touched her.
It also brings to light the corruption of the Mexican legal system, but even within that system there is still an element of good. People doing what they can, little by little.
Plus, within all of that, it's really an amazing story.
The writing and the descriptions were really good. You could feel the love that Sanger has for Mexico and tell that she really cared for the women she met and how they touched her.
It also brings to light the corruption of the Mexican legal system, but even within that system there is still an element of good. People doing what they can, little by little.
Plus, within all of that, it's really an amazing story.
June 14, 2014
This is not a story that Mary Ellen Sanger wished for, but it makes for an engrossing read.
She introduces her time in Ixcotel State Prison by chronicling the journey she took to and through her life in Mexico. Illuminating and captivating in its own right.
But it is with the stories of her fellow prisoners, as their lives intersect hers at Ixcotel, that this book really shines. Each woman stands out in her own voice, not simply another victim of the corrupt Mexican justice system, but as a complicated person worth listening to. Mixtures, like all of us, of the best and worst of humanity, all deserving of our ear, our thoughts, our emotional engagement.
The dignity or Soroya, the passion of Ana, the vulnerable toughness of Concha, the hustle of Susa, the perceptive and determined sorrow of Natalia, the spiritual strength of Citali: all the women here have lessons to teach.
Sanger also leaves herself open to us, to her up-and-down odyssey.
A good antidote to a world where too often it seems like no one cares.
She introduces her time in Ixcotel State Prison by chronicling the journey she took to and through her life in Mexico. Illuminating and captivating in its own right.
But it is with the stories of her fellow prisoners, as their lives intersect hers at Ixcotel, that this book really shines. Each woman stands out in her own voice, not simply another victim of the corrupt Mexican justice system, but as a complicated person worth listening to. Mixtures, like all of us, of the best and worst of humanity, all deserving of our ear, our thoughts, our emotional engagement.
The dignity or Soroya, the passion of Ana, the vulnerable toughness of Concha, the hustle of Susa, the perceptive and determined sorrow of Natalia, the spiritual strength of Citali: all the women here have lessons to teach.
Sanger also leaves herself open to us, to her up-and-down odyssey.
A good antidote to a world where too often it seems like no one cares.
March 11, 2019
You get what you pay for, they say, & there’s truth in that, but sometimes you receive a free gift that is priceless, & that is what this book has been for me. This is simply one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read, & I read a lot…& have done so for a long time. Not only are the events & the people described fascinating, but the writing is nothing short of glorious!
“Inside the church was cool and quiet. We took seats in the back pew and watched as the faithful approached the altar—dancing. Two steps forward, one step back. Everyone who enters knows the steps. Two steps forward, one back, a sway in the hips and shoulders. Doña Jacinta told us that the dance began in 1944 when the original San Juan was destroyed in a sudden hot lava rage with the eruption of Paricutín volcano. She said the congregants dance now to remind God that they are ready—that with this dance they can keep time to the shuddering earth.”
Mary Ellen Sanger found herself dissatisfied with her climb up the corporate ladder & decided to follow her heart’s desire toward a slower paced & more fulfilling life in old Mexico, at first supporting her dream with a second successful career in tourism, & ultimately forsaking entirely the trappings of conventional success to write poetry & advocate for the country’s downtrodden indigenous people. She was allowed the freedom to do so, in part, by accepting the position of caretaker for a 90-year-old expatriate, residing in his lovely adobe home in Oaxaca. Three years later, with no warning, she found herself being arrested on fabricated charges & placed in the primitive & rat-ridden Ixcotal State Prison. This memoir details her experience there, the behind the scenes political manipulations that demanded her apprehension & imprisonment, the resulting furor, & most importantly, recounts the deeply affecting stories of the women that she encountered as she endured her month-long incarceration.
I am so impressed with this intelligent, compassionate, & insightful woman; I hope she continues to write & that her talent is soon recognized by the publishing world.
This is an Indie book that begs for much wider distribution.
“Inside the church was cool and quiet. We took seats in the back pew and watched as the faithful approached the altar—dancing. Two steps forward, one step back. Everyone who enters knows the steps. Two steps forward, one back, a sway in the hips and shoulders. Doña Jacinta told us that the dance began in 1944 when the original San Juan was destroyed in a sudden hot lava rage with the eruption of Paricutín volcano. She said the congregants dance now to remind God that they are ready—that with this dance they can keep time to the shuddering earth.”
Mary Ellen Sanger found herself dissatisfied with her climb up the corporate ladder & decided to follow her heart’s desire toward a slower paced & more fulfilling life in old Mexico, at first supporting her dream with a second successful career in tourism, & ultimately forsaking entirely the trappings of conventional success to write poetry & advocate for the country’s downtrodden indigenous people. She was allowed the freedom to do so, in part, by accepting the position of caretaker for a 90-year-old expatriate, residing in his lovely adobe home in Oaxaca. Three years later, with no warning, she found herself being arrested on fabricated charges & placed in the primitive & rat-ridden Ixcotal State Prison. This memoir details her experience there, the behind the scenes political manipulations that demanded her apprehension & imprisonment, the resulting furor, & most importantly, recounts the deeply affecting stories of the women that she encountered as she endured her month-long incarceration.
I am so impressed with this intelligent, compassionate, & insightful woman; I hope she continues to write & that her talent is soon recognized by the publishing world.
This is an Indie book that begs for much wider distribution.
June 21, 2019
This is my book written in prison - #ReadHarder prompt 20
Interesting book which tells the story of the author, her time in Mexico and the time she spent in prison, as well as stories of some of the women she shared the prison with.
Her story alone is just unbelievable. The reason she is imprisoned is just so strange it is incredible.
The stories Sanger shares of some of the other women in the prison are simple, but so raw and painful.
If this were not non-fiction it would be deemed too outlandish to be true. And yet these women were really incarcerated and then kept on in prison for the most ridiculous reasons.
It is scary that this goes on - these women haunt me
Interesting book which tells the story of the author, her time in Mexico and the time she spent in prison, as well as stories of some of the women she shared the prison with.
Her story alone is just unbelievable. The reason she is imprisoned is just so strange it is incredible.
The stories Sanger shares of some of the other women in the prison are simple, but so raw and painful.
If this were not non-fiction it would be deemed too outlandish to be true. And yet these women were really incarcerated and then kept on in prison for the most ridiculous reasons.
It is scary that this goes on - these women haunt me
November 22, 2018
A very well done account of life in Oaxaca, Mexico focused on the author's month in a local prison. As a resident of Oaxaca I commend the accuracy of the observations and profiles of the people and the environment in which we live. A carefully edited, uncomplicated and very satisfactory read.
May 19, 2017
Blackbirds A Metaphor
"
A true story written with beautiful descriptive language to explore the loss of freedom while sustaining spiritual freedom, Excellent
"
A true story written with beautiful descriptive language to explore the loss of freedom while sustaining spiritual freedom, Excellent
April 21, 2019
An experience of an American woman in a Mexican prison that you don't want to share but it's a page turner to read about! Excellent eye opening story that will leave you wanting more from Mary Ann.
December 5, 2016
Ms. Sanger's descriptive prose is engaging and sets the tone for the book. Passages such as: "The sky changed from onyx to pearl and the hum of the morning turned melodic as insects stowed themselves away and birds awakened," are replete in the pages of this engaging but sobering story.
The central plot is how Ms. Sanger is arrested on trumped up charges so that land from her friend can be taken by the government however throughout the pages much of the book concentrates on the women of Ixcotel Prison, from the very young to the older women. This is from the book's description:
"The largest and brawniest woman in the prison, doing time for armed robbery, kills a rat with her foot, then turns to the author for help with a very special letter. Another young woman, only nineteen years old, has already been in for three years, guilty of kidnapping her own child. And Ana, a political prisoner, teaches the author about creative ways to turn the tide, one including frog-eating snakes."
In a compelling manner, Ms. Sanger immerses the reader in every room of the overcrowded and draconian prison. These 'facilities' are different than those in the USA, one being that children are within the prison walls with their mothers until the age of two years. What is not different is the isolation of prison life. The 'not knowing,' about their families and the lack of contact often cause deep depression.
This book is one that celebrates the support women often give to others when they have seemingly nothing to give. The forward is written by famed Mexican journalist Elena Poniatowska who for decades has worked with the disenfranchised and poor of Mexico. This book is well worth a read and is on Kindle Unlimited.
The central plot is how Ms. Sanger is arrested on trumped up charges so that land from her friend can be taken by the government however throughout the pages much of the book concentrates on the women of Ixcotel Prison, from the very young to the older women. This is from the book's description:
"The largest and brawniest woman in the prison, doing time for armed robbery, kills a rat with her foot, then turns to the author for help with a very special letter. Another young woman, only nineteen years old, has already been in for three years, guilty of kidnapping her own child. And Ana, a political prisoner, teaches the author about creative ways to turn the tide, one including frog-eating snakes."
In a compelling manner, Ms. Sanger immerses the reader in every room of the overcrowded and draconian prison. These 'facilities' are different than those in the USA, one being that children are within the prison walls with their mothers until the age of two years. What is not different is the isolation of prison life. The 'not knowing,' about their families and the lack of contact often cause deep depression.
This book is one that celebrates the support women often give to others when they have seemingly nothing to give. The forward is written by famed Mexican journalist Elena Poniatowska who for decades has worked with the disenfranchised and poor of Mexico. This book is well worth a read and is on Kindle Unlimited.
Read
December 13, 2013From Introduction by Elena Poniatowska, First Lady of Mexican Letters
Mary Ellen Sanger is a great writer, there can be no doubt. Her prose goes straight to your very heart and stays there. Beautiful outside and in, Mary Ellen relates the story of her incarceration in Ixcotel prison in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the injustices committed against her; but she does it with such integrity and composure that we almost feel like joining her in her cell. Her tale, as far from sentimentality or self-pity as one could imagine, centers on the other women imprisoned with her, even the “malitas” [bad girls] who get high and hoard their precious stones that, once inhaled, allow them to soar far, far away from the prison.
Mexico is a country where truth is NOT spoken, nor is there a culture of truth. How would the imprisoned women get a chance to speak their own truths? Inside, they tell Mary Ellen of their prodigious life of lies, their prodigious life of truths, they invent a life of dreams and argue that their aspirations remained stuck in the depths of a childhood where remembrance is painful. Mary Ellen listens to them and believes them. Her innocence rescues her cellmates and graces them with a dignity that endears them to us.
To see others with kind eyes is also a way of rescuing oneself.
...
Mary Ellen Sanger is a great writer, there can be no doubt. Her prose goes straight to your very heart and stays there. Beautiful outside and in, Mary Ellen relates the story of her incarceration in Ixcotel prison in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the injustices committed against her; but she does it with such integrity and composure that we almost feel like joining her in her cell. Her tale, as far from sentimentality or self-pity as one could imagine, centers on the other women imprisoned with her, even the “malitas” [bad girls] who get high and hoard their precious stones that, once inhaled, allow them to soar far, far away from the prison.
Mexico is a country where truth is NOT spoken, nor is there a culture of truth. How would the imprisoned women get a chance to speak their own truths? Inside, they tell Mary Ellen of their prodigious life of lies, their prodigious life of truths, they invent a life of dreams and argue that their aspirations remained stuck in the depths of a childhood where remembrance is painful. Mary Ellen listens to them and believes them. Her innocence rescues her cellmates and graces them with a dignity that endears them to us.
To see others with kind eyes is also a way of rescuing oneself.
...
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews