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Bosque: Poems
Winner of the 2021 Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association
Nestled in the heart of Albuquerque is a vibrant cottonwood forest that has flourished for centuries along the Río Grande--providing a home for porcupines, migratory birds, coyotes, and other wildlife as well as a sanctuary for its city residents. Today, in the midst of climate change and the slow drying of the river, the bosque struggles to remain vibrant. As a former Albuquerque Poet Laureate, Michelle Otero champions this beloved Albuquerque treasure. In her debut poetry collection, Bosque , she celebrates the importance of water and the bosque to the people of Albuquerque. Otero shares her reflections on the high desert--where she is rooted, where she draws her strength, and where she has flourished--and she invites readers to do the same.
Published in Association with the City of Albuquerque's Department of Cultural Services.
Nestled in the heart of Albuquerque is a vibrant cottonwood forest that has flourished for centuries along the Río Grande--providing a home for porcupines, migratory birds, coyotes, and other wildlife as well as a sanctuary for its city residents. Today, in the midst of climate change and the slow drying of the river, the bosque struggles to remain vibrant. As a former Albuquerque Poet Laureate, Michelle Otero champions this beloved Albuquerque treasure. In her debut poetry collection, Bosque , she celebrates the importance of water and the bosque to the people of Albuquerque. Otero shares her reflections on the high desert--where she is rooted, where she draws her strength, and where she has flourished--and she invites readers to do the same.
Published in Association with the City of Albuquerque's Department of Cultural Services.
- GenresPoetry
96 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 26, 2021
One of my reading challenges this year is to read a book of poetry. I was skeptical, but I really enjoyed this one! It started right away with poems in Spanglish, and I found myself reading them out loud so I could feel the rhythm.
February 7, 2021
I have had the honor of viewing Michelle performing. Her voice and cadence were with me while reading. I could feel her passion and raw emotion while reading the poems. Thank you for sharing your stories and art with us!
February 8, 2025
I should preface this review with the fact that Michelle and I grew up together. In fact, today is her birthday! I recently learned that she had written some books that I hadn’t read yet. So I started with her poetry collection and just finished. It was even more beautiful than I anticipated. We so needed works like hers when we were in our formative years! I’m thrilled that she is giving to Latinas what we needed back then. A woman’s voice. A brown woman’s voice. A New Mexican brown woman’s voice. That they are reading her work in New Mexico schools is something to behold. Beautiful words describing their life, language, culture in their landscape. Not someone in 18th century Europe. Or at least, not only them.
January 8, 2022
A beautiful collection of nuanced and evocative poems by a phenomenal Latinx writer. As academics and writers we often talk about intersectionality and my first instinct is to note the intersections between our gente, our experiences, and the land. But Bosque goes beyond that, it is more a communion and an acknowledgment that, like the lands we inhabit, we are much much more than what we have been led to believe. To borrow from the poem “Aquí Estamos,” these poems are “lenguaje más allá de la lengua / lenguaje del rió y del corazón / de tierra, del alma y del sol”
April 13, 2023
More of a 3.75 than 3 star...Dor me, 4 stars and up has to be perfection haha! Or at least close to it. I chose this rating because some poems are more powerful than others, but of course that goes for any collection of poems or short stories/prose! Sometimes a bit cliche/typical themes of Nuevo Mexico, read like so many other's version, yet sometimes powerful and wholly original in a beautiful voice.
November 11, 2021
One of the best books of poetry to come out of New Mexico this year. Otero's poems are saturated with community, you cannot help but be fully engaged with her work and her love of New Mexico and ABQ in particular. Every poem sings with a love that transcends place, altering it into a real family member.
November 15, 2022
From the meditative use of the collective “we” to the odes uplifting community members and local ecologies, this book is pure connection, a love letter to New Mexico and Mexico. A reflection on what connects us, on the lineages we carry, and how earth and time are inscribed in our bodies. The language is skillful, musical, multilingual. I savored this book and found so much joy in it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews