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Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge
“In her debut poetry collection, Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo explores what it means to live on the border, a literal and figurative image that takes on multiple meanings. There are the rich and vibrant stories of her Mexican grandparents and parents, stories she carries with her and finds still relevant in modern-day Los Angeles; there is a traditional view of womanhood and the reality of being a contemporary woman in the United States; there is a straddle of Spanish and English, a clamor of tongues; there is the dividing actual line between Mexico and the United States, which people risk their lives to cross each day. To the people, not so different than herself, she writes, 'I promise you are not invisible, nor discarded, people traveling when the land is dark.'”
-Terry Wolverton, Author of Embers
-Terry Wolverton, Author of Embers
- GenresPoetry
117 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 16, 2016
Review originally published on my blog https://ifyoucanreadthis.wordpress.com
In the four sections of her first poetry collection, Posada- Offerings of Witness and Refuge, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo takes us with her through the multiple, imaginative and too real border spaces of migration, language and belonging. In the first part, she goes on a journey of remembering, collecting and reconstructing her family’s history. Starting with the stolen metate they brought from Teocaltiche, Bermejo connects the memories and stories of her family, from Uncle Manny’s recollections of his tía Susana and her remedies to Bermejo’s mother who was “never gifted the story of her birth,” presenting in her work the “Pieces I’ve Gathered so Far.”
Part 2 demonstrates the way in which Bermejo draws inspiration from Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo and others and appropriately explores gender roles and the relationships of the women in her family, from mothers and daughters in “Frida’s Monkey Nurse:”
"I tie her to this world never knowing
where the other will spit her out, never knowing
when it will finally swallow her whole"
to her relationship with her grandmother, to whom this collection is dedicated, in “This Poem is for Nopales:”
"Grandma, in the hospital room, when I kissed the fade of your cheek
to say goodbye, crisscrossing chin hairs caught my attention.
Now, when I look in the mirror and And hairs have bloomed overnight,
I think of roots. I think of you. I hope I can be a nopal woman too."
In part 3, “Things to Know for Compañer@s. A No More Deaths Volunteer Guide,” Bermejo draws on her work with the humanitarian organization No More Deaths, which gives medical aid and support along the border. Her poems bear witness to life and death on the migrant trail peppered with resilient cacti.
"Did you know?
When barrel cacti become tombstones and their
yellow starburst blooms offerings for the dead, you won’t be too cool to
belt Katy Perry songs."
"Did you know?
Migrants are hurried over trails at night and without light.
Their blisters are caused by continuous friction, muscle cramping by
dehydration, vomiting by drinking bacteria ridden cow pond water,
and those who move too slow are left behind."
In the last part, Bermejo pays witness to other/s’ stories of refuge and migration, connecting and piecing together similar and interrelated struggles from Arizona to Chavez Ravine to Gaza. She bears witness to tales of desperation, of refuge and migration and gives names and faces to those who too often remain just numbers to us. Posada is a fantastic, visceral debut collection of social justice poetry, not only exploring the different meanings of borders, but also providing safe spaces and comfort for those straddling them.
Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is a first generation Chicana. She is a 2016-2017 Steinbeck fellow and has received residencies with Hedgebrook, the Ragdale Foundation, and is a proud member of the Macondo Writers’ Workshop. In Los Angeles, she is a cofounder of Women Who Submit, a literary organization using social media and community events to empower women authors to submit work for publication, and curates the quarterly reading series HITCHED.
Disclaimer: I was given an e-copy of this book by the publisher, Sundress Publications, but never fear I remain my opinionated self!
In the four sections of her first poetry collection, Posada- Offerings of Witness and Refuge, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo takes us with her through the multiple, imaginative and too real border spaces of migration, language and belonging. In the first part, she goes on a journey of remembering, collecting and reconstructing her family’s history. Starting with the stolen metate they brought from Teocaltiche, Bermejo connects the memories and stories of her family, from Uncle Manny’s recollections of his tía Susana and her remedies to Bermejo’s mother who was “never gifted the story of her birth,” presenting in her work the “Pieces I’ve Gathered so Far.”
Part 2 demonstrates the way in which Bermejo draws inspiration from Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo and others and appropriately explores gender roles and the relationships of the women in her family, from mothers and daughters in “Frida’s Monkey Nurse:”
"I tie her to this world never knowing
where the other will spit her out, never knowing
when it will finally swallow her whole"
to her relationship with her grandmother, to whom this collection is dedicated, in “This Poem is for Nopales:”
"Grandma, in the hospital room, when I kissed the fade of your cheek
to say goodbye, crisscrossing chin hairs caught my attention.
Now, when I look in the mirror and And hairs have bloomed overnight,
I think of roots. I think of you. I hope I can be a nopal woman too."
In part 3, “Things to Know for Compañer@s. A No More Deaths Volunteer Guide,” Bermejo draws on her work with the humanitarian organization No More Deaths, which gives medical aid and support along the border. Her poems bear witness to life and death on the migrant trail peppered with resilient cacti.
"Did you know?
When barrel cacti become tombstones and their
yellow starburst blooms offerings for the dead, you won’t be too cool to
belt Katy Perry songs."
"Did you know?
Migrants are hurried over trails at night and without light.
Their blisters are caused by continuous friction, muscle cramping by
dehydration, vomiting by drinking bacteria ridden cow pond water,
and those who move too slow are left behind."
In the last part, Bermejo pays witness to other/s’ stories of refuge and migration, connecting and piecing together similar and interrelated struggles from Arizona to Chavez Ravine to Gaza. She bears witness to tales of desperation, of refuge and migration and gives names and faces to those who too often remain just numbers to us. Posada is a fantastic, visceral debut collection of social justice poetry, not only exploring the different meanings of borders, but also providing safe spaces and comfort for those straddling them.
Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is a first generation Chicana. She is a 2016-2017 Steinbeck fellow and has received residencies with Hedgebrook, the Ragdale Foundation, and is a proud member of the Macondo Writers’ Workshop. In Los Angeles, she is a cofounder of Women Who Submit, a literary organization using social media and community events to empower women authors to submit work for publication, and curates the quarterly reading series HITCHED.
Disclaimer: I was given an e-copy of this book by the publisher, Sundress Publications, but never fear I remain my opinionated self!
August 30, 2017
For those who think poetry is all butterflies and sunsets, Bermejo offers these gritty poems of Mexican-American life, of people dying in the desert, of her grandmother grinding corn in her metate for tortillas, of love, and of legends. She writes without boundaries, not afraid to say in “Ventana” when a young girl is being raped with a cross hanging over her head, “Jesus has forgotten to mobilize.” The next line: “Black spray paint explains, Jesus ya no vive aqui,” which means “Jesus doesn’t live here anymore.”
Bermejo blends the dangers of the desert with an intense love for everything in it. She talks of the saguaro cactus “honoring the sun with outstretched arms./I love outstretched arms!/ I love to dance with arms stretched out to the sky.” Can you feel the joy in those lines? Can you see the cactus dancing on the desert hills?
She mixes English and Spanish, occasionally sending me to the Spanish-English dictionary, but the richness of both languages adds to the power of these poems. Don’t be afraid of a little Spanish. Don't be afraid of poetry.
I’m proud of my sister Antioch University LA poet.
Bermejo blends the dangers of the desert with an intense love for everything in it. She talks of the saguaro cactus “honoring the sun with outstretched arms./I love outstretched arms!/ I love to dance with arms stretched out to the sky.” Can you feel the joy in those lines? Can you see the cactus dancing on the desert hills?
She mixes English and Spanish, occasionally sending me to the Spanish-English dictionary, but the richness of both languages adds to the power of these poems. Don’t be afraid of a little Spanish. Don't be afraid of poetry.
I’m proud of my sister Antioch University LA poet.
May 17, 2020
These poems show us our city and our country at the southern border where lives are lost and found, sucked dry and resurrected. Bermejo’s poems cut to the bone and demand you to bear witness, to see the lives that are hidden in the desert brush. She demands we look not only at the streets where we drive, but at the cactus alongside the road and to remember the land and the people where we have built our country and erected borders. A powerful and important work.
January 24, 2018
I just finished reading this today and I have no words. This book is delicate yet strong in a quiet way that really impacts you to your core. I love poetry and words that can make you feel something with so little. There’s something very powerful about that and these poems truly do that.
April 16, 2023
Rich in imagery and beautiful figurative language, these are powerful poems of family and desert, of longing and grief, of compassion and witness.
March 25, 2018
This book has been on my TBR shelves for a while, ever since my friend Heather got me excited about the publisher Sundress Publications. When I got it out with a stack of other small poetry books for a #30daysofreadathon Instagram post, I couldn't make myself put it away with the others.
The collection is all about immigration, and as such, there are a few people in whose hands I'd like to foist this in. It starts out with poems about her family living in Los Angeles, telling stories of her relatives' immigrant experiences and how they have and do shape their lives. Then the collection shifts hard to modern immigration, and the poems are about Bermejo's experience volunteering in the desert with the group No More Deaths -- a humanitarian organization that seeks to stop the deaths of migrants in the desert by leaving water and supplies on the trails, and sometimes providing emergency first aid. This shift in focus is abrupt, and could be more integrated, but the poems in both sections are strong.
My favorites were "My Mother's History, or Pieces I've Gathered So Far," and the "Did You Know?" poems.
The collection is all about immigration, and as such, there are a few people in whose hands I'd like to foist this in. It starts out with poems about her family living in Los Angeles, telling stories of her relatives' immigrant experiences and how they have and do shape their lives. Then the collection shifts hard to modern immigration, and the poems are about Bermejo's experience volunteering in the desert with the group No More Deaths -- a humanitarian organization that seeks to stop the deaths of migrants in the desert by leaving water and supplies on the trails, and sometimes providing emergency first aid. This shift in focus is abrupt, and could be more integrated, but the poems in both sections are strong.
My favorites were "My Mother's History, or Pieces I've Gathered So Far," and the "Did You Know?" poems.
April 11, 2017
A fresh collection of poetry that connects the poet's family experience to the desert of Arizona. Strong and unforgettable images lace through these poems and render the reader humbled and honored to have shared these words from the poet's soul. A grand collection; the poems of the grandmother are best.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews