Bosque: Poems

by Michelle Otero

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. ACCLAIM “Michelle Otero reveals the palette of the color brown throughout this magnificent collection of poetry that celebrates the people and landscape of her upbringing. A must read, Bosque quenches the spirit in time of drought. It is bound to be a classic of Chicanx literature.”—Demetria Martínez, author of Mother Tongue “Michelle Otero’s Bosque is profoundly New Mexican, as vast as our desert and as deep as our canyons. These poems hold us in their arms and draw us into the poet’s multicultural, multilingual heart.”—Margaret Randall, author of I Never Left Poet, Feminist, Revolutionary “Michelle Otero’s poetry reminds me how to see with my heart. Her attention to detail rooted me to a place of meditation, a story I never knew I needed in my life, an afterlife. A third of the way in, she asks, ‘What is the cure for sand / in the throat?’ and replies with an answer we already know but couldn’t hear because we were so disconnected from the earth. Bosque is inventive, crisp, patient, ornate, and a delight to walk through. Otero got my heart to see again.”—Anel I. Flores, author of A Lesbiana Story en Probaditas “Praise these poems, praise the poet, praise Michelle Otero. In times like these, ‘when we stand together / by standing apart, holding our touch / for another time,’ it is poetry like this that helps keep us stitched at the heart-seams of our lives. Sown during her tenure as Albuquerque Poet Laureate, Michelle planted truth and harvested transformation. ‘You were hierba buena / You were hierba del manso.’ Her poems are a tincture for the soul. We will suckle these words of faith, healing, and redemption like caldo from a grandmother’s fingertips.”—Levi Romero, Inaugural New Mexico Poet Laureate and author of A Poetry of New and Rejected Works ABOUT THE AUTHOR Michelle Otero is a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop, founded by Sandra Cisneros for socially engaged writers to advance creativity, foster generosity, and serve community. She is also the author of Malinche’s Daughter.

Genres: Poetry

93 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 15, 2021

Reviews

[Xenia · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️

[Nicole Finch · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Penny's Preferences · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Cesar · Rating 5 out of 5]

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”

[Ruth Martinez · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Sara Daniele · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.