Have You Been Long Enough At Table

by Leslie Sainz

“Marvelous.”―Terrance Hayes Taking its title from Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea , Leslie Sainz’s Have You Been Long Enough at Table explores the personal and historical tragedies of the Cuban American experience through a distinctly feminine lens. Formally diverse with echoes of Spanish throughout, this debut collection critiques power and patriarchy as weaponized by the governments of the United States and the Republic of Cuba. In investigating the realities of displacement and inherited exile, Sainz honors her imagined past, present, and future as a result of the “revolution within the revolution”―the emancipation of Cuban women.

Through lyric and associative meditations, Sainz anatomizes the unique grief of immigrant daughters, as her speakers discover how family can be a microcosm of the very violence that displaced them. What emerges is a spiritual blueprint for disinheritance, radical self-determination, and the nuanced examinations of myth, ritual, and resistance.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2023

Reviews

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of poetry was really powerful and interesting to read. I do wish it had been a little longer because I was enjoying the poems a lot. The language prompts the reader to a lot of imagery which I love in poetry. I think my favorite poem was At the Center of the Story and Utterly Left Out, but honestly I enjoyed the whole collection (except for the super short Threat Display III because it wasn’t in English so I didn’t understand it which was fine).

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Tin House for providing with me an early galley of this book. All opinions are my own.

Let me preface this, there's many things I love about reading, but two major ones are: poetry, and Tin House. So whenever the opportunity pops up that I get to read a poetry book published by Tin House, I cough in eagerness. And when I got the email asking if I would like to read an early copy of this book, I had to get my hands on it.

Leslie Sainz is the recipient of the 2021 National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship. She's been featured in a bunch of different outlets, and this is her debut poetry collection. And it is great.

With a seismic political commentary in the belly of her poetry, Sainz has the poetic dominance of Tracy K. Smith and the lyricism and cadence of Natasha Trethewey. She writes with such assertion and variegated vehemence that some lines can take you aback ("I tripped over my envy, // forgot to lessen myself.").

There are some slightly experimental poems like "Massive Activity," where Sainz is able to paint a picture even when there aren't many words. She allows you for you to find the way in her labyrinthine poetry, and fill in the gaps that she's left for herself for the sake of subjectivity.

With stark and overwrought visions on the current political climate in Cuba and the United States, she has been able to distinguish the bifurcation of herself as an immigrant and the people who differ from her, with many poems that deal with the hardships she's had to carry on her shoulder by being Cuban American.

While I think there are some flaws in some of the metaphors featured in the book (I refer to some lines where it doesn't make much sense; "December falls like sheet music"), I think there are some beautiful lines in this book. My hand began to throb after holding a pencil and underlining the whole time reading this.

Though I think there is a myriad of poetry books to choose from if you'd want to read about immigration to the United States, Sainz has such a delicacy and brevity to her words that makes this book a great read regardless.

I think this is such an important book for any first-generation and second-generation immigrants to read, to see the story and feel the footsteps that others have paved on their journey to the "American Dream."

all in all: a phenomenal debut collection of poetry that deals with the trials and tribulations of being an immigrant in the United States. 4.25 stars

[Amerie]

The Amerie’s Book Club selection for the month of May is HAVE YOU BEEN LONG ENOUGH AT TABLE by Leslie Sainz!

Follow @AmeriesBookClub on IG, and join me and Leslie Sainz on my IGLIVE (@Amerie) at the end of the month. Bring your questions!

In this gorgeous, tense, and at times morbid, poetry collection, Leslie Sainz dissects the Cuban American experience from a multitude of angles: the push-pull between the United States and the Republic of Cuba; the relationships that, like tides, pull us in and push us away; food as metaphor for identity and relationships. Underlying the quiet beauty of the narrator’s observations: the low hum of unease. The poems within the pages of Have You Been Long Enough at Table have enough layers to keep a reader busy for days, long after putting down the book.

@AmeriesBookClub #AmeriesBookClub #ReadWithAmerie #LeslieSainz @lesannsai #HaveYouBeenLongEnoughAtTable @tin_house
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ABOUT LESLIE SAINZ
LESLIE SAINZ is the author of Have You Been Long Enough at Table (Tin House, 2023), winner of the 2024 Audre Lorde Award and a finalist for the Vermont Book Award. The daughter of Cuban exiles, her work has appeared in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, the Yale Review, Kenyon Review, American Poetry Review, and elsewhere. A three-time National Poetry Series finalist, she’s received fellowships, scholarships, and honors from the National Endowment for the Arts, CantoMundo, the Miami Writers Institute, the Adroit Journal, and the Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts at Bucknell University. Originally from Miami, she lives in Vermont and works as the managing editor of New England Review.

[Snem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poems about the Cuban American experience from a feminist perspective, don’t mind if I do. Chock full of powerful imagery. Beautiful lines and the mix of language was so great. Some of these were really avant garde.

A lot of this I just didn’t understand, but it did inspire me to learn more. This might be the kind of thing I’d have to read a couple of times to get fully.

I’m giving poetry an honest try this year and a collection like this could make me feel like a failure in that attempt. But I’m going to keep trying and I recommend reading them a couple of times and try reading them out loud.

[Sonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have You Been Long Enough at the Table by Leslie Sainz daughter of Cuban immigrants.
What a poet! Thank you for writing this powerful and inspiring book, Leslie Sainz.
We who look white have no idea of the daily trials of those who are not white. This is the world we live in.
Among other great things, she shows how the immigrant family can mirror the violence they came from. It just goes on and on and now they are even being deported from the U.S. to countries they don’t know anything about

This poem is called Binge/Fugue

“Light like the veins of horses,
a familiar silence.

Have you ever overflowed? Haven’t you?”

Her poetry knocks on your heart and you have to open it.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a moving collection of poems. You can feel the emotion in each verse. My personal favorites I swear I could hear the voices of the author’s grandmothers reciting the words.

[Alaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm not well versed (Hah Hah) in the realm of poetry, but i appreciated sainz's wordplay and unusual word pairings.

[Aidan Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crossing chasms. It is something else to read a collection and have it strike all the correct chords, in all different ways. Nothing I’ve read in poetry does quite what this does in terms of navigating every texture of a contemporary voice. Mastery in form and content, both gigantic and guttural.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will admit it. I was baffled by these poems my first read through. Next reading, I had my tablet near by so I could translate the Spanish and research the references. It was a totally different experience.

Reading Cuban American writers and about the Cuban Diaspora is new and exciting for me. These poems demonstrate the rich cultural heritage of Cuba. They also document the suffering of those who seek to flee their homeland for America, and the callous treatment they recieve.

My Uncle Joe’s grandparents left Cuba for America in 1923. Two of his uncles lost their lives fighting in Europe during WWII. His father was head waiter at a posh Buffalo, NY restaurant. My uncle was in the Marines. Their experience was nothing like that of Cubans seeking to leave their homeland later in the century. Who can forget the boats filled with refugees sinking or being turned back?

When I was younger, I thought only the ocean could make things disappear: a raft, a family.

from Bodied, or Day 1 of 9
The book includes poems about the Cuban raft crisis, the treatment of “wetbacks,” and the “wet feet” caught on sea between Cuba and America. I learned about the beliefs of Cuba, the merged Yoruba gods and Catholic faith. There are poems about lovers, family, and loss. And, about the fraught relationship between Cuba and America, the suspicions and denial.

Often raw and visceral, these poems translate a cultural experience through a personal lens.

Ars Poetica

You skewer
all the present moments

with a fork. They squirm
spectacularly, like second languages.

A fate–
can you stomach it?

Anyway, you eat it. you eat it anyway.
from Have You Been Long Enough at Table by Leslie Sainz

Thanks to Tin House for a free book

[Carey Calvert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to Sonnet for Ochun from the debut collection, Have You Been Long Enough At Table, by Leslie Sainz, countless times. A trick I employed to further elucidate and illuminate as I read the other works in this fabulous collection. 

When the voice frees itself, Sainz lets us in on a little secret: “Though I am most satisfied with this attempt, this project is a stranger to completion. Such is the nature of devotion.”

Although not included in this collection, I listened to “Sean” many times as well.
 
I knew this collection, from the managing editor of the New England Review, to be published September 26, this devotion to craft, as Sainz explains it, would inspire.

I read Have You Been Long At Table aloud as well (as we should with all poetry), and will never forget the nature of devotion – to craft, to ideas, to the desire to communicate.

“Am I capturing all of history in this gesture?”

Among the many lessons poetry teaches us; its musicality, its ability to transmit ideas economically, elegantly, and accurately, the poet is a master of simile, metaphor, form, significance, and rhythm.

Poets also make the best editors. “They know how to eradicate words that are extraneous, repetitious, or misleading, and how to rearrange their work until not one word is out of place.”

“Before bed, I walked my plank of uncertainties and plunged further into uncertainty.”

The poet and Professor Terrance Hayes compares Sainz to Dickinson and Plath had they been born in the Cuban American landscape of the last century. “She makes questions invitations and memory visible.”

The title is gleaned from Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea:

“Eat it so that the point of the hook goes into your heart and kills you, he thought. Come up easy and let me put the harpoon into you. All right. Are you ready? Have you been long enough at table?”

It is the courageous writer that conjures Hemingway and Sainz’s interpolation stabs and cajoles as well; its selections as delectable as they are symbolic with pinpoint accuracy. This collection is an absorbing exploration, where the personal is political, and the tragedies of the Cuban American experience are placed under a microscope for keen observation and further contemplation.

Nevertheless, Sainz doesn’t just add voice to the conversation, Sainz overwhelms it; fully aware this indulgence should not be expected but celebrated on its own merit.

But first we must “interrogate the desire.”

Is it arrogance or earnest determination or simply a desire to fill a void?

“Representation is incredibly important.”

The lead epigraph from the poet and revolutionary Jose Marti consumes the reader: “Nuestro vino es amargo, pero es nuestro vino.”

“Our wine is bitter, but it is our wine.”

In the end, however, it is Sainz who reminds us “There is no country/where the dead don’t float."

[Dezirah Remington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Tin House and Leslie Sainz for the Gifted copy

Sainz leans heavily into her family and Cuban roots to create this interesting collection of poetry. Throughout she marries classical forms (Sonnets, Ghazal, Classic stanza structures) with more modern interpretations of black-out, creative use of white space, free form and prose poems to create an experience that seems inline with her life. The mix of the old Cuba and the new American realities.

The strengths of this collection lie with the careful reverence for words. These poems are tight and crafted down to the number of spaces between words, there is no phrase, moment of diction or language change that is not deliberate and crafted with the skill of a master artist. The 2nd strength is in the perspective. Many of these poems hold the fear, pain, anger and hope of her family's experiences, but all are told through a decidedly female lens. Most of the history and perspectives of Cuba and Cuban Americans I have read tend to be overly masculine. Sainz centers the female experience even when discussing her father and his experiences.

Overall, this is a fascinating exploration of experience. I will need to do some research to anchor my understanding before diving back into this one…

[jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happiest of Pub Days to Leslie Sainz and her debut poetry collection; ‘Have You Been Long Enough at Table’.

Thank you so much to Tin House for gifting me a finish copy. I devoured it, then went back and read it again, letting it wash over and move me.

This collection uses a feminine perspective to understand and unpack the Cuban American experience, especially its tragedies, while also calling to attention the role of patriarchy and powers from all sides, dictating the individual experience. It is abstract, at times, direct in others. It’s woven through with Spanish. I found the themes of poverty, exile, and even liberation to be expertly drawn. I only wish it had been longer because I never wanted to stop reading Leslie Sainz’ words.

A few poems that especially moved me where STILL LIFE WITH CHRIST, AROMATICS - ARS POETICA - SONNET WITH ORULA - MALECÓN/MIAMI - REMEDIOS. I read those over and over.

There is a vulnerably in this collection, undeniably, but the writing is confident, meaningful, passionate and emotive. It’s a beautiful read and one I will return to. Highly recommend this to you all.

[Patricia Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Day 20 of #TheSealeyChallenge 2023. Have You Been Long Enough at Table by Leslie Sainz published by Tin House Books.

@SealeyChallenge @Tin_House @lesannsai

#thesealeychallenge2023 #sealeychallenge #poetry

Thanks to @netgalley for the sneak peak. This wonderfully nuanced collection spans continents and politics, emphasizing heart.

Some of my favorite moments:

There is no country where the dead don’t float. Men and children going, having gone, lungwet across thickened water.

I learn that the earth has a jaw too, swallows at will like a man. When

Now, my mother lives alone and with my father in Miami. My father lives with my mother and, some days, himself.

You skewer all the present moments with a fork. They squirm spectacularly, like second languages.

In the cul-de-sac, I found clouds on leashes, loose roosters. I thought thoughts ugly as clothespins.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading Leslie Sainz stunning debut "Have You Been Long Enough at Table". Sainz is one of those poets who feels like they are personally speaking to you and letting you in their circle. The Cuban American experience, displacement, exile... generations of women, all beautifully explored, even in its painful moments. 
   What I love most is how Sainz, many times throughout the book, managed to write poetry that contained stunning turns of phrase that made me re-read again and again in awe, and at times made me pick up the phone to read it to another. 
      Thanks to Tin House for the advance copy! This book comes out on Sept 26th, but here I am already looking forward to Leslie's next collection. Her voice deserves our attention.

[Meg Deke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grabbed this new release from the Vermont Book Shop having only read a few of Sainz's poem online and was blown away. Her mastery is evident in this moving exploration of cultural non-belonging.

Not only do the words whisper, cry, and shout, but the visual presentation adds to the experience. I love an audiobook/reading, but recommend reading a physical copy to experience the synchronous use of white space, italics, etc.

There's a breadth of styles, which can sometimes make collections feels disjointed. I was worried thumbing through the collection but needn't have been--Sainz deftly wields the various forms to emphasize the complexity of her Cuban-American experience and deepen the storytelling.

[Alejandra Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

big thank you to Tin House for this poetry book 📖🤓

I enjoyed lines like: Plátanos frying in a cast iron skillet.

I was heartbroken by lines like: No vivimos aquí, solo sobrevivimos.

And was moved by lines like: Who could save the this in us?

While some poems took me reading over more than once, the prose in "Have You Been Long Enough At Table" by Leslie Sainz is a heartfelt dance that navigates the complexities of cultural duality. She writes about a Cuban daughter’s experience offering readers a window into the spirit of a community & she explores the historical tragedies of Cuban Americans who have endured both loss and triumph.

If you are a poetry fan, this poet’s debut must be on your list! I feel like she has many more to come.

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of poems about power, survival, escaping Cuba, identity, and family.

from Bodied, or Day 1 of 9: "When I was younger, I thought only the ocean could make things / disappear: a raft, a family. I now suspect everything takes orders / from somewhere."

from Sunday, Wounded: "Blows, howls. Flesh // folding into itself like a sheet— / white, reddened. // Mothers, wives, sisters, daughters followed, // surveilled, // clicks on their phone lines / like snapping in a nearby dream. // The tongueless republic, // unable to lick its wounds, // does not sleep."

from Ars Poetica: "You skewer / all the present moments // with a fork. They squirm / spectacularly, like second languages."

[Tanya Sangpun Thamkruphat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Tin House and Leslie Sainz for a mailed ARC of this book!

Leslie Sainz's debut collection is powerful with carefully crafted poems reflecting on experiences being Cuban in America. I love the use of classical poetry forms and modernized poetry forms (e.g., blackout poetry), which, as Terrance Hayes noted about the book as a whole, is reflection of "the bonds and tensions of independence and tradition, spirit and form, home and exile." This was a stunning book to read---and I'll be re-reading it again to capture every morsel of this collection. I can't wait for Leslie Sainz's next book!

[Nora Rawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I did, though it has many formally impressive features; but they felt mostly like just that, experiments in form, without the singing scansion I love (sorry, I'm basic), and while the Cuban exile history is interesting, I also had the feeling this was an anti-Castro book and personally I would like to move on from the geopolitical narratives of the 60s/70s/80s/90s etc. Possibly that's a misread, and certainly there are political complexities here and it's meant to be a reflection of lived reality and to capture what Cuban and Cuban-Americans have gone through rather than an argument; but nevertheless.

[Rhonda Lomazow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leslie Sainz debut poetry collection was mesmerizing thought provoking.I read and reread her words her thoughts on the Cuban American experience life in America survival of the displaced the violence that involves them the emancipation of the women.Leslie’s poetry that is sprinkled with Spanish deserves a wide audience and I’m looking forward to more poetry from her .Thanks Tin house for my gifted copy.

[Deron Eckert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leslie Sainz’s debut collection is a formally diverse introduction to a unique voice eager to explore how the major decisions of generations before us, such as immigration, can inform our identities and the culture we inherit. While steeped in tradition and the Cuban American experience, these poems delve into universal themes surrounding lineage and changing landscapes, whether environmental or political, that anyone can find relatable and benefit from reading.

[Carly Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a big fan of Leslie's work for a long time--and am lucky enough to call her a dear friend. She brings so much care to her poetry, which you can sense on every page. The lines are sharp, the language riveting--this book needs to be read, then read again and again. You will discover a new favorite line or entire poem with every read.

[D.J. Desmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome writing, really interesting cultural ties, and innovative poetry. I recommend to any poetry fans

[Jordan Hamel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible collection by one of my new favourite poets

[emma]

“My blood so patient. My back so wet there’s a name for it.”

[Mercedes Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

leslie ate. And that’s that on that.

[Sarkis Antonyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

smh bc every decision that went into this book was the right decision. wowing

[Shira · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Lee Thomas Holden]

One of the best books I've ever read. A bold new voice in American poetry. A must-read.