La Movida

by Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta

A collection of poems that explores the radical love inherent in revolutionary work through cultural objects, adolescent affect, and queerness from within the fall of empire.

Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta croons in the voice of a lovesick teenaged folklorist time traveler about revolution, housework, anti-colonialism, folk tales, post-punk, anti-fascism, anorexia, and alcoholism. Named both for the Chicana feminist concepts of revolutionary maneuvers and submerged technologies of struggle and the explosive queer punk movement that emerged in Spain during its transition from Franquist Fascism to democracy, La Movida moves from bed to street to river, defending memory and falling in love along the way.

Genres: Poetry

97 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 12, 2022

Reviews

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excerpts:

Remember what I
once said, I would accept
nothing if that was what you
could give me. Fuck that. I want
the plumage. Back then,
I had a revisionist
history of love;
and now I live against all
that was taught me, against all
that you told me.

(from “Revision of Love”)

I was seventeen
when my father died, freeing
me to dive into
the earth. I ate the flesh and
I opened my legs and I
bled into the dawn.
Sleeping amongst
the pigs and their shit
was grander than any
homecoming could be.

("Quiver with Joy")

When you met me, I was not

in the mood for love.
Then I found myself choking
on fat and blood, melt
ed and feathered, carrying
a bell. Who else do you know

that was radica
lized by jealousy?

(from “Año desnudo”)

[Quoth the Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

"there are women / who are sure / that they are women."

La Movida by Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta documents what love is in the face of resistance and activism. Luboviski-Acosta created a calling out to love and love's losses in this collection and there were some enticing language moments throughout the collection. However, I felt that the collection did not push itself far enough and its shortcomings came from not fully meshing the ideas of love and activism. The two core principles of the book felt very separate from one another, when I wanted to see how they are one in the same. There was so much ungrounded pain when the collection turned to seeking love while grappling with the state of the world. I wanted to know the love that rages in an activist's heart. Instead, it felt like I was reading about the speaker's day and night identities.

"I want an education / in remembering / and I want an education / in forgetting."

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW yes. Such queer rebellious ferocity here I adore it. There is a deep rooted solidarity with friends and kin, that revolution is a painful and joyous place of connection and love.

From "Song Against the Wounded Hand":
"In the town
of liars and poets, the
tumbleweeds having been re

placed by the rotting
silk garments in the colonial
style, I was torn
to pieces by the wild
dogs, yet stayed with you. My ribs

became your house, you
wove my hair to carry water,
and you used my tears
to adorn yourself."

"My Friends, the Leftists":
"I want to hide myself like I
hide my rage, I want to disappear like a breath bleed
ing into the night —Instead, my friend, I hold your
braid between my teeth when the revolution comes
back to town. I look over my shoulder. I look be

tween my legs. I remember. They forget."

Other favorites: "Happiness" and "Historia de un Amor"

[Ix · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I started reading it and, as I was moving through the pages, I started to feel a connection with the autor, I kind of "I'm not alone" feeling.
Tatiana writes in a very particular way about very personal topics, you feel a part of something.
Thanks for the poetry/short stories.

[Bray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually dog eared several pages so I could write down passages to keep nearby at all times. Very moving and powerful. A look at gender identify, race, body dysphoria and dysmorphia, eating disorders… every piece is incredibly striking.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

so many big ideas moving through such a small book and so much humor but boy will I not easily forget “¡Ay! Can you believe / that I have never felt love, / never felt the grace / or the consensus or the / eroticism of fight / / ing for, as opposed to against?”

[isaac dwyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some absolute bangers in this collection—and the art is very fun—but then there are the pieces that feel v reiterative or redundant. I will absolutely read TLA’s next collection; this one just feels a tad undercooked.

[e v · Rating 5 out of 5]

kissing in the light of a burning cop car im breathless may the next uprisings come so swiftly

[Alex Jiménez · Rating 5 out of 5]

their mind is so genius

[Simón · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for the Sealey Challenge. It connects movements for liberation across generations.

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

[Sian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this, especially the first and last (the title poem) poems.