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Woman Without Shame: Poems
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Poetry (2022)A BEST BOOK OF THE TIME and GOODREADS • A brave new collection of poems from Sandra Cisneros, the best-selling author of The House on Mango Street.
It has been twenty-eight years since Sandra Cisneros published a book of poetry. With dozens of never-before-seen poems, Woman Without Shame is a moving collection of songs, elegies, and declarations that chronicle her pilgrimage toward rebirth and the recognition of her prerogative as a woman artist. These bluntly honest and often humorous meditations on memory, desire, and the essential nature of love blaze a path toward self-awareness. For Cisneros, Woman Without Shame is the culmination of her search for home—in the Mexico of her ancestors and in her own heart.
It has been twenty-eight years since Sandra Cisneros published a book of poetry. With dozens of never-before-seen poems, Woman Without Shame is a moving collection of songs, elegies, and declarations that chronicle her pilgrimage toward rebirth and the recognition of her prerogative as a woman artist. These bluntly honest and often humorous meditations on memory, desire, and the essential nature of love blaze a path toward self-awareness. For Cisneros, Woman Without Shame is the culmination of her search for home—in the Mexico of her ancestors and in her own heart.
173 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 13, 2022
173 people are currently reading
21298 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Cisneros
102 books4,056 followersSandra Cisneros is internationally acclaimed for her poetry and fiction and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Lannan Literary Award and the American Book Award, and of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the MacArthur Foundation.
Cisneros is the author of two novels The House on Mango Street and Caramelo; a collection of short stories, Woman Hollering Creek; two books of poetry, My Wicked Ways and Loose Woman; and a children's book, Hairs/Pelitos.
She is the founder of the Macondo Foundation, an association of writers united to serve underserved communities (www.macondofoundation.org), and is Writer in Residence at Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.
Cisneros is the author of two novels The House on Mango Street and Caramelo; a collection of short stories, Woman Hollering Creek; two books of poetry, My Wicked Ways and Loose Woman; and a children's book, Hairs/Pelitos.
She is the founder of the Macondo Foundation, an association of writers united to serve underserved communities (www.macondofoundation.org), and is Writer in Residence at Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 379 reviews
October 9, 2022
For my first selection for this years Latinx Heritage Month, I found a new collection of poems by Sandra Cisneros. Before she became a famous novelist, Cisneros got her start by writing poetry. She is still a poet and the poems in this collection waited over ten years before she got the courage to tackle them. Here, Cisneros tackles issues like ageism, older women’s self image, reverse immigration like she has done by moving to Mexico from Chicago, and various other themes that pop up. Poems are in English and Spanish and done either lightly or in powerful prose. I may not agree completely with the message she is sending, but as a woman who has enjoyed her writing over the years, I look up to her as she contemplates an older woman’s role in society, and know what I have to look forward to. These poems should not have sat in a shoe box for over ten years.
4 stars
4 stars
September 1, 2022
Trickster time arrived
while I slept.
It takes some getting used to.
I watch my transformation
bemused. Just as I once
watched myself alter into
my woman’s body. Watch
and marvel now as then.
Relieved to some degree.
Fascinated with where
I am and where I am
traveling.
Stepping On Skin from Woman Without Shame by Sandra Cisneros
Sandra Cisneros is famous for her novel A House on Mango Street. It’s been twenty-eight years since she published a book of poetry. The poems in Woman Without Shame are fierce, visceral, lyric, and even humorous. She reflects on her life from the vantage point of experience. It is gratifying to encounter poetry about a woman’s experience.
Canto for Woman of a Certain Age is hilarious, inspired by Dylan Thomas, raging against sensible white grannie underwear. She writes about Floaters, caused by the aging of the vitreous layer of the eye, and being told it’s harmless. (Perhaps, but I have so many it interferes with reading.) She wonders how Mrs. Gandhi reacted to her famous husband’s decision for celibacy.
As a Mexican American living in Mexico, she encounters the beauty of the ordinary and the horror of political and social evil. El Hombre begins with a girl’s death, “It’s her father’s debts./This is how they pay/Un Hombre who can’t pay.” Interspersed through the poem is the refrain,”Mandanos lux. Send us all light.” In To A–, she writes about narcos collecting protections from vendors and of the people who have disappeared. (My cousin married a Mexican and at retirement they moved to Mexico and built a beautiful hacienda. He was shot on the street.)
She recalls her youth. “We were all on the run in ’82,/Jumping to Laura Branigan’s “Gloria,”/The summer’s theme song.” She remembers lovers and sex.
In Woman Seeks Her Own Company, her self-portrait begins “Profession: Word Weaver,” and she concludes “Artistry: At sixty-five convinced/Just getting started.” I love the strength and affirmation of this insight.
At seventy, I understand Cisneros’ on so many levels. The changed body. (Oh, yes, in ’82 the men called out to me on the streets of Philadelphia.) The acceptance of the changes, not seeing aging as a declination, but a strength, understanding that one hones one’s art as a life long process.
Cisneros was a poet first, she writes in the Acknowledgements, and she has continued to write poetry. Woman Without Shame represents decades of unpublished work. These poems will be an inspiration to women, and hopefully inspire us all to be without shame.
Thanks to #AAKnopf for a free book.
while I slept.
It takes some getting used to.
I watch my transformation
bemused. Just as I once
watched myself alter into
my woman’s body. Watch
and marvel now as then.
Relieved to some degree.
Fascinated with where
I am and where I am
traveling.
Stepping On Skin from Woman Without Shame by Sandra Cisneros
Sandra Cisneros is famous for her novel A House on Mango Street. It’s been twenty-eight years since she published a book of poetry. The poems in Woman Without Shame are fierce, visceral, lyric, and even humorous. She reflects on her life from the vantage point of experience. It is gratifying to encounter poetry about a woman’s experience.
Canto for Woman of a Certain Age is hilarious, inspired by Dylan Thomas, raging against sensible white grannie underwear. She writes about Floaters, caused by the aging of the vitreous layer of the eye, and being told it’s harmless. (Perhaps, but I have so many it interferes with reading.) She wonders how Mrs. Gandhi reacted to her famous husband’s decision for celibacy.
As a Mexican American living in Mexico, she encounters the beauty of the ordinary and the horror of political and social evil. El Hombre begins with a girl’s death, “It’s her father’s debts./This is how they pay/Un Hombre who can’t pay.” Interspersed through the poem is the refrain,”Mandanos lux. Send us all light.” In To A–, she writes about narcos collecting protections from vendors and of the people who have disappeared. (My cousin married a Mexican and at retirement they moved to Mexico and built a beautiful hacienda. He was shot on the street.)
She recalls her youth. “We were all on the run in ’82,/Jumping to Laura Branigan’s “Gloria,”/The summer’s theme song.” She remembers lovers and sex.
In Woman Seeks Her Own Company, her self-portrait begins “Profession: Word Weaver,” and she concludes “Artistry: At sixty-five convinced/Just getting started.” I love the strength and affirmation of this insight.
At seventy, I understand Cisneros’ on so many levels. The changed body. (Oh, yes, in ’82 the men called out to me on the streets of Philadelphia.) The acceptance of the changes, not seeing aging as a declination, but a strength, understanding that one hones one’s art as a life long process.
Cisneros was a poet first, she writes in the Acknowledgements, and she has continued to write poetry. Woman Without Shame represents decades of unpublished work. These poems will be an inspiration to women, and hopefully inspire us all to be without shame.
Thanks to #AAKnopf for a free book.
December 26, 2022
3.5
Some poems are better than others but none of them stood out to me as especially poignant. I preferred the poems in the last few sections to those in the front. Two standouts were “You better not put me in a poem” and “Woman seeks her own company.”
Some poems are better than others but none of them stood out to me as especially poignant. I preferred the poems in the last few sections to those in the front. Two standouts were “You better not put me in a poem” and “Woman seeks her own company.”
October 8, 2022
4.5 stars. This enjoyable collection of poems was further enhanced by listening to the author read them. She is a wonderful reader who adds a feeling and playfulness throughout.
February 7, 2025
This poetry collection was in short, utterly magnificent. May patron saint San Juan de Dios bless Sandra Cisneros as she has blessed us! This book was about 30 years of her work combined & it was perfect from beginning to end. She wrote beautifully on many topics, but came back often to themes of aging, self love, sex, love, being child-free & Mexico. Many poems were in Spanish or had hints of Spanish in them, so there were definitely some times I had to use google translate to understand the full effect of her words. I don’t think I’ve read a better body of work in many years & am so thankful that I was led to this collection as it ignited my long lost love of poetry again. There are just some
poets who inspire through their words more than I can say in this measly little review. I had many dog-eared pages in this & many underlines. One of my favorite poems was “At Fifty I Am Startled to Find I Am in My Splendor” which I have come back to now numerous times. “These days I admit I am as wide as a tule tree. My underwear protests. And yet, I like myself best without clothes when I can admire myself as God made me, still divine as a maja.” What a remarkable display of loving yourself throughout every season of life & a prayer for women everywhere to do the same. This book filled me to the brim. I said to the brim!!!
poets who inspire through their words more than I can say in this measly little review. I had many dog-eared pages in this & many underlines. One of my favorite poems was “At Fifty I Am Startled to Find I Am in My Splendor” which I have come back to now numerous times. “These days I admit I am as wide as a tule tree. My underwear protests. And yet, I like myself best without clothes when I can admire myself as God made me, still divine as a maja.” What a remarkable display of loving yourself throughout every season of life & a prayer for women everywhere to do the same. This book filled me to the brim. I said to the brim!!!
March 24, 2024
I am a spectator at my own sport.
Brilliant poetry collection! Thoroughly enjoyed the reading process - quiet and observational pieces right next to boisterous and bawdy pieces.
Full of life and wisdom. Loved it.
Brilliant poetry collection! Thoroughly enjoyed the reading process - quiet and observational pieces right next to boisterous and bawdy pieces.
Full of life and wisdom. Loved it.
April 16, 2023
Allow me to place this book on your radar.
TITLE: WOMAN WITHOUT SHAME
AUTHOR: Sandra Cisneros
PUB DATE: 09.13.2022 Now Available
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: TIME and GOODREADS
A brave new collection of poems from Sandra Cisneros, the best-selling author of The House on Mango Street.
Woman Without Shame is a moving collection of songs, elegies, and declarations that chronicle her pilgrimage toward rebirth and the recognition of her prerogative as a woman artist. These bluntly honest and often humorous meditations on memory, desire, and the essential nature of love blaze a path toward self-awareness. For Cisneros, Woman Without Shame is the culmination of her search for home—in the Mexico of her ancestors and in her own heart.
THOUGHTS:
A triumphant return to poetry after 28 years, and I enjoyed every word of this amazing collection. I particularly enjoyed the bits about aging - handled with humor and wit, seeing ourselves as vintage and celebrating the aging body and the aches and pains that comes with it. Cisneros does not shy away from grit with mentions of both US and Mexico political issues, poverty, and what comes along with that is crime and violence. I loved that Cisneros included poems in Spanish in this collection as well as unapologetically celebrating the woman’s body and sexuality.
TITLE: WOMAN WITHOUT SHAME
AUTHOR: Sandra Cisneros
PUB DATE: 09.13.2022 Now Available
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: TIME and GOODREADS
A brave new collection of poems from Sandra Cisneros, the best-selling author of The House on Mango Street.
Woman Without Shame is a moving collection of songs, elegies, and declarations that chronicle her pilgrimage toward rebirth and the recognition of her prerogative as a woman artist. These bluntly honest and often humorous meditations on memory, desire, and the essential nature of love blaze a path toward self-awareness. For Cisneros, Woman Without Shame is the culmination of her search for home—in the Mexico of her ancestors and in her own heart.
THOUGHTS:
A triumphant return to poetry after 28 years, and I enjoyed every word of this amazing collection. I particularly enjoyed the bits about aging - handled with humor and wit, seeing ourselves as vintage and celebrating the aging body and the aches and pains that comes with it. Cisneros does not shy away from grit with mentions of both US and Mexico political issues, poverty, and what comes along with that is crime and violence. I loved that Cisneros included poems in Spanish in this collection as well as unapologetically celebrating the woman’s body and sexuality.
December 14, 2022
Sandra Cisneros is quite a poet. I loved the honesty, the openness and the range of this book of poems covering her life. The mixture of Spanish in the poems and references to her ancestral roots also endeared me.
The poem I liked least was called “You Better not Put Me in a Poem,” but probably because of my lack of interest in sex with men. The poem is actually an amazingly written compendium of her sexual experiences, like nothing you’ve ever read. She never married and she is glad none of those relationships worked (she said in a New Yorker interview).
A woman on her own. Woman Without Shame.
There were so many poems I loved and could relate too. The book is a fantastic collection and Sandra Cisneros did indeed write them over her 67 years. Poems observing people, telling about her writing, her childhood and just about life. Here are the first two of Four Poems on Aging
Ménière’s
This loss of the
Right ear’s hearing,
No cross.
I only half listen
Anyhow.
Funny Bone
So much depends
Upon a staircase
Glazed with
Rainwater
Seven
Years
Ago.
A book very worth reading. Thank you Sandra Cisneros for the gift of your poems. I will never forget beauty and simplicity of A House on Mango Street. This book is very much like it. Highly recommend.
The poem I liked least was called “You Better not Put Me in a Poem,” but probably because of my lack of interest in sex with men. The poem is actually an amazingly written compendium of her sexual experiences, like nothing you’ve ever read. She never married and she is glad none of those relationships worked (she said in a New Yorker interview).
A woman on her own. Woman Without Shame.
There were so many poems I loved and could relate too. The book is a fantastic collection and Sandra Cisneros did indeed write them over her 67 years. Poems observing people, telling about her writing, her childhood and just about life. Here are the first two of Four Poems on Aging
Ménière’s
This loss of the
Right ear’s hearing,
No cross.
I only half listen
Anyhow.
Funny Bone
So much depends
Upon a staircase
Glazed with
Rainwater
Seven
Years
Ago.
A book very worth reading. Thank you Sandra Cisneros for the gift of your poems. I will never forget beauty and simplicity of A House on Mango Street. This book is very much like it. Highly recommend.
November 8, 2022
Just the patron saint, Sandra Cisneros, erupting with freedom, delight, and honesty. A whole, true woman weaving laugh lines and hard years into words.
November 15, 2023
3.5, You Better Not Put Me In a Poem was the highlight for me.
January 9, 2023
I admit that this book of poetry wasn’t for me. I picked it up out of nostalgia; in high school I heard the poet speak and read poetry from The House on Mango Street. This collection doesn’t resonate with me the way I hoped it would, but the poetry is still imaginative and reflective.
September 13, 2022
“i believe what the generals need now / are the abuelita brigades armed with / chanclas to shame, swat, and spank / los meros machos del mundo / amen.”
SANDRA CISNEROS JUST GETS IT
SANDRA CISNEROS JUST GETS IT
May 26, 2023
How is this my first Cisneros???
*Logs into library account to place holds on all available*
*Logs into library account to place holds on all available*
July 16, 2024
I enjoyed this one, and want to read more from Sandra Cisneros.
June 21, 2025
Chcę, żeby to lato było tak dobre jak te wiersze.
January 1, 2025
This was a beautiful, glorious book of poetry. I love it so so much.
April 6, 2025
I think if I revisit this in 20 years, it will hit different.
December 6, 2024
With her first volume of poetry in nearly thirty years, Sandra Cisneros does not disappoint. Woman Without Shame starts off extraordinary with a number of unforgettable pieces about her whimsical youth and the necessity of love. These themes continue with abundance in both long and short pieces that maintain their high quality of evocative and clever verses for over 150 pages.
As the title alludes to, instead of dwelling on the process of aging or on recollecting moments from youth that are barely less than shameful, she is euphoric with sharing her self-made love for her body and for her current place of contentment in life as she nears sixty. In reminiscing about her past, she views her experiences and choices as vital to arriving at the woman she now celebrates—someone free, untethered, and in pursuit of reverence with gratitude and joy without regrets.
She holds back no shame in sharing intimate memories of lust, desire, and carnal instinct. Mostly, however, the pieces in this book gather an account of her learning how to find the most fulfilling life, which she has determined relies on commitment to her art of writing and the exploration it affords her to appreciate her life’s journey as a wonder to celebrate. Any grief or setbacks are viewed as crossroads for decisions either to allow sadness to define you or learn how to grow from mistakes.
Often funny and always candid, these poems force us to reflect on how to attain the most out of life. Some of the pieces about lust and desire got repetitious, which is why the stronger ones seemed to appear at the outset when she first bares her unvarnished memories. Nonetheless, Woman Without Shame is a memorable book of poems that will not have you struggling with accessibility as you think about your own life and the choices that have led you to who you are.
As the title alludes to, instead of dwelling on the process of aging or on recollecting moments from youth that are barely less than shameful, she is euphoric with sharing her self-made love for her body and for her current place of contentment in life as she nears sixty. In reminiscing about her past, she views her experiences and choices as vital to arriving at the woman she now celebrates—someone free, untethered, and in pursuit of reverence with gratitude and joy without regrets.
She holds back no shame in sharing intimate memories of lust, desire, and carnal instinct. Mostly, however, the pieces in this book gather an account of her learning how to find the most fulfilling life, which she has determined relies on commitment to her art of writing and the exploration it affords her to appreciate her life’s journey as a wonder to celebrate. Any grief or setbacks are viewed as crossroads for decisions either to allow sadness to define you or learn how to grow from mistakes.
Often funny and always candid, these poems force us to reflect on how to attain the most out of life. Some of the pieces about lust and desire got repetitious, which is why the stronger ones seemed to appear at the outset when she first bares her unvarnished memories. Nonetheless, Woman Without Shame is a memorable book of poems that will not have you struggling with accessibility as you think about your own life and the choices that have led you to who you are.
February 27, 2023
On my poetry BS right now thank u library books. First book of poetry from a Latina perspective and had a lot of references to Mexican culture which was interesting to read about. Honestly her confidence in her self, body, past, lovers etc was refreshing and fun
POTB:
At Fifty I Am Startled to Find
I Am in My Splendor
These days I admit
I am wide as a tule tree.
My underwear protests.
And yet,
I like myself best
without clothes when
I can admire myself
as God made me, still
divine as a maja.
Wide as a fertility goddess,
though infertile. I am,
as they say,
in decline. Teeth
worn down, eyes burning
yellow. Of belly
bountiful and flesh
beneficent I am. I am
silvering in crags
of crotch and brow.
Amusing.
I am a spectator at my own sport.
I am Venetian, decaying splendidly.
Am magnificent beyond measure.
Lady Pompadour roses exploding
before death. Not old.
Correction, aged.
Passé? I am but vintage.
Iam a woman of a delightful season.
El Cantarito, little brown jug of la Lotería.
Solid, stout, bottom planted
firmly and without a doubt,
filled to the brim I am.
I said the brim.
POTB:
At Fifty I Am Startled to Find
I Am in My Splendor
These days I admit
I am wide as a tule tree.
My underwear protests.
And yet,
I like myself best
without clothes when
I can admire myself
as God made me, still
divine as a maja.
Wide as a fertility goddess,
though infertile. I am,
as they say,
in decline. Teeth
worn down, eyes burning
yellow. Of belly
bountiful and flesh
beneficent I am. I am
silvering in crags
of crotch and brow.
Amusing.
I am a spectator at my own sport.
I am Venetian, decaying splendidly.
Am magnificent beyond measure.
Lady Pompadour roses exploding
before death. Not old.
Correction, aged.
Passé? I am but vintage.
Iam a woman of a delightful season.
El Cantarito, little brown jug of la Lotería.
Solid, stout, bottom planted
firmly and without a doubt,
filled to the brim I am.
I said the brim.
September 17, 2023
i expected more with a title like this from cisneros.
January 5, 2025
“Woman Without Shame” is the first book I read this year - a collection of poems by Sandra Cisneros, an American-Mexican acclaimed author of many novels, a memoir and poetry collections. I got this book as a Secret Santa gift from a colleague (but I had put it on my wishlist, so it was not a complete surprise) and it was a perfect book to start the year with.
Cisneros wrote those poems during many years - sometimes she puts her age in poems, so I know she started writing them as a woman older than I am now, and she is now 70. She’s a woman being unapologetically herself, passionate, independent. A woman who adored love and making love, who has lived as fully as she could (quite like Pilar from “One Hundred Years of Solitude”).
“For whose pleasure
a string of saliva
from the lips of the lover
to the beloved’s sex.”
(from “Variations in White”)
The poems are a reflection of Cisneros’ personality and identity, her passions and proclivities. Peppered with Spanish words and whole passages, and sometimes with ones in Nahautl, these poems speak of Mexican culture, sensuality, ageing, love and desire. My favourite poems, like “Instructions for my Funeral”, “I Should Like to Fall in Love with a Burro Named Saturnino”, “Día de los Muertos” or “Woman Seeks Her Own Company” evoke longings, dreams, regrets and a strong sense of belonging but also savouring each moment with full awareness of its ephemerality.
“Allow no Christian rituals
for this bitch, but, if
you like, you may invite
a homeless dog to sing,
or a witch woman to spit
orange water ans chant
an Otomí prayer.”
(from “Instructions for my Funeral”)
“Every day same as the one before.
And never as the one before. Each moment
wrapped in newsprint and twine
and delivered always on time.”
(from “I Should Like to Fall in Love with a Burro Named Saturnino”)
I would like to be friends with Sandra Cisneros. I’d learn from her to overcome my fears better, to live with greater intensity, to become more eccentric. Her poems give me hope all this will happen. After all, as she writes in “Woman Seeks Her Own Company”:
“At sixty-five convinced
Just getting started.”
Cisneros wrote those poems during many years - sometimes she puts her age in poems, so I know she started writing them as a woman older than I am now, and she is now 70. She’s a woman being unapologetically herself, passionate, independent. A woman who adored love and making love, who has lived as fully as she could (quite like Pilar from “One Hundred Years of Solitude”).
“For whose pleasure
a string of saliva
from the lips of the lover
to the beloved’s sex.”
(from “Variations in White”)
The poems are a reflection of Cisneros’ personality and identity, her passions and proclivities. Peppered with Spanish words and whole passages, and sometimes with ones in Nahautl, these poems speak of Mexican culture, sensuality, ageing, love and desire. My favourite poems, like “Instructions for my Funeral”, “I Should Like to Fall in Love with a Burro Named Saturnino”, “Día de los Muertos” or “Woman Seeks Her Own Company” evoke longings, dreams, regrets and a strong sense of belonging but also savouring each moment with full awareness of its ephemerality.
“Allow no Christian rituals
for this bitch, but, if
you like, you may invite
a homeless dog to sing,
or a witch woman to spit
orange water ans chant
an Otomí prayer.”
(from “Instructions for my Funeral”)
“Every day same as the one before.
And never as the one before. Each moment
wrapped in newsprint and twine
and delivered always on time.”
(from “I Should Like to Fall in Love with a Burro Named Saturnino”)
I would like to be friends with Sandra Cisneros. I’d learn from her to overcome my fears better, to live with greater intensity, to become more eccentric. Her poems give me hope all this will happen. After all, as she writes in “Woman Seeks Her Own Company”:
“At sixty-five convinced
Just getting started.”
August 28, 2024
Despite starting her career as a poet, Sandra Cisneros is mostly known for fiction (particularly The House on Mango Street). Now, in the latter half of life, she has returned to poetry, writing a collection about her Mexican-American identity, womanhood, and aging.
These poems are humorous, moving, sassy, fierce, and candid. There were several lines and several poems that caught my attention. The stand out one for me was “Instructions for My Funeral.”
Instructions for My Funeral
For good measure,
smoke me with copal.
Shroud me in my raggedy rebozo.
No jewelry. Give to friends.
No coffin. Instead, petate.
Ignite to "Disco Inferno."
Allow no Christian rituals for this bitch, but, if
you like, you may invite
a homeless dog to sing,
or a witch woman to spit
orange water and chant
an Otomí prayer.
Send no ashes north
of the Río Bravo
on penalty of curse.
I belong here,
under Mexican maguey,
beneath a carved mesquite
bench that says Ni Modo.
Smoke a Havana.
Music, Fellini-esque.
Above all, laugh.
And don't forget.
Spell my name with mezcal.
These poems are humorous, moving, sassy, fierce, and candid. There were several lines and several poems that caught my attention. The stand out one for me was “Instructions for My Funeral.”
Instructions for My Funeral
For good measure,
smoke me with copal.
Shroud me in my raggedy rebozo.
No jewelry. Give to friends.
No coffin. Instead, petate.
Ignite to "Disco Inferno."
Allow no Christian rituals for this bitch, but, if
you like, you may invite
a homeless dog to sing,
or a witch woman to spit
orange water and chant
an Otomí prayer.
Send no ashes north
of the Río Bravo
on penalty of curse.
I belong here,
under Mexican maguey,
beneath a carved mesquite
bench that says Ni Modo.
Smoke a Havana.
Music, Fellini-esque.
Above all, laugh.
And don't forget.
Spell my name with mezcal.
August 9, 2025
I'm not sure the last time I read such a profound collection of poems. Sandra's crass observations about the mundane turned poetry had me giggling, crying and gave an entirely new perspective on aging.
Her candor about love, loss, poverty and all the little things in between remind me of Bukowski. (In the best of ways.) In short, I loved this and will be seeking out more.
"Consume a cool glass of night.
Read poetry that inspires poetry.
Write until temperment returns to calm."
('Remedy for Social Overexposure')
Her candor about love, loss, poverty and all the little things in between remind me of Bukowski. (In the best of ways.) In short, I loved this and will be seeking out more.
"Consume a cool glass of night.
Read poetry that inspires poetry.
Write until temperment returns to calm."
('Remedy for Social Overexposure')
January 5, 2023
In this poetry collection, Cisneros explores themes of aging, grief, body representation, and romance. The poems are vivid, varied, and accessible, often humorous, and occasionally heartbreaking. Some read like incantations or prayers, and one is an extended reflection on the penises of former lovers. So, yes, quite a range of subject matter. My favorites include "Instructions for My Funeral," "Year of My Near Death," and "El Hombre," which repeats the refrain "Mándanos luz. Send us all light" over and over again. I also loved "When in Doubt." That title phrase is a formula I'm also fond of--and always trying to sneak into my writing.
December 18, 2023
Cisneros finds a way to crawl into the bones of my body. I will be thinking about these poems for a very long time.
February 1, 2024
For a book of poems, it was fine. I read the for a book-reading challenge put out by a local book store. This just further solidified that I have no interest in poetry. Of the entire book, there was only one that had any meaning to me. I love Cisneros, but her poetry is not for me.
Read
February 26, 2025Mira la Luna.
Escribe poesía.
Toma tu tiempo.
Take you time, mija.
Take you time.
Escribe poesía.
Toma tu tiempo.
Take you time, mija.
Take you time.
December 22, 2024
wonderful poems; great for major life changes. i just had one of those so they made me really sad
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December 7, 2022I just don't think I am the right audience for this book- the writing is beautiful, but I found myself getting lost and confused easily. Not rating because I don't want my ignorance to hurt the Author or deter others
October 27, 2022
I overall enjoyed this poetry collection as it explored the depth, power, and vulnerability of womanhood and Latin culture. I just think some of the poems however didn't quite work, felt forced, or were trying too hard and were borderline cringe, and the collection sometimes felt uneven and didn't keep my attention the whole way through, but when the poems worked, they worked, and they were as beautiful as they were interesting and intense.
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