When Language Broke Open: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Black Writers of Latin American Descent (Camino del Sol)

When Language Broke Open collects the creative offerings of forty-five queer and trans Black writers of Latin American descent who use poetry, prose, and visual art to illustrate Blackness as a geopolitical experience that is always changing. Telling stories of Black Latinidades, this anthology centers the multifaceted realities of the LGBTQ community. By exploring themes of memory, care, and futurity, these contributions expand understandings of Blackness in Latin America, the Caribbean, and their U.S.-based diasporas. The volume offers up three central questions: How do queer and/or trans Black writers of Latin American descent address memory? What are the textures of caring, being cared for, and accepting care as Black queer and/or trans people of Latin American descent? And how do queer and trans embodiments help us understand and/or question the past and the present, and construct a Black, queer, and trans future? The works collected in this anthology encompass a multitude of genres—including poetry, autobiography, short stories, diaries, visual art, and a graphic memoir—and feature the voices of established writers alongside emerging voices. Together, the contributors challenge everything we think we know about gender, sexuality, race, and what it means to experience a livable life. Cover Series Info Title Page Copyright Contents Foreword / Rigoberto González Acknowledgments Introduction / Alan Pelaez Lopez Another Diaspora Poem / Irene Vázquez Memory When One Door Closes, Another Door Flows / Ehqs/Izar Home / Sa Smythe y volver volver / Sa Smythe Held together by an ocean breeze / Little Wren Red Clay / Little Wren Haiku for Great-Grandma Coolie / Tirzah Sheppard To Grandma ’Nita / Tirzah Sheppard Rainbow Rosary / Tirzah Sheppard Hoo Doo Interests / Allison Whittenberg Watching Jordan’s Fall / Allison Whittenberg From Under Crack Rock: Surviving the Reagan Years / Louie Ortiz-Fonseca The Things Miss Tina Taught Me / Louie Ortiz-Fonseca Maria’s Song, 1999 / Armando Alleyne Maria’s Song (#2) / Armando Alleyne Context: The Maria’s Song Series / Armando Alleyne Polluted Imprints in a Neurodivergent Mind / Julia Feliz Ocean Home / Zoë Gamell Brown Of Joy (A Bricolage) / Randy James Ancestor in Barbados / Randy James On This Little Island / Randy James Ode to Abuela / Raquelle Mayoral [Untitled] / Franchesca Araújo The plant speaks for the girl buried under it / Franchesca Araújo Remembering / Reva Santo Where Is Home? / Ivanova Veras de Jesús my gram’s machete / JR Mahung letter to simone (on the subject of the king) / JR Mahung letter to simone (on cutting grass) / JR Mahung reflections on watching missy elliott’s “lose control” video / JR Mahung portrait of my grandmother in 90s hip-hop videos / JR Mahung ¿Y Vos Quién Sos? / Clara Olivo Clarita Escucha Su Voz / Clara Olivo [7 December 2020] untitled / Des Jackson Un Cuento del Regreso / Jehoiada Zechariah Calvin “Always and Forever,” Love Alex / Charles Rice-González How to Draw a Memoir / Breena Nuñez Escaped Parrots Are Doing Lovely / Jessica Lanay Care Proximity, Intimacy, Togetherness / Dora Santana Love Thy Neighbor / SR. Álida Collaborative Poems / Janice Heather Hector and Felene M. Cayetano Free / Raquelle Mayoral The Uncertainty of Feelings for Girls / Raquelle Mayoral Hurricane Marlene / Lorraine Avila We Never Did This to Be Beautiful / Ariana Brown For the Black Kids in My 8th-Grade Spanish Class / Ariana Brown Lido’s Day / Yamilette Vizcaíno Rivera Manicured Things / Sasha Mahalia Hawkins I’d Always Promised I’d Never Do Drag / Darrel Alehandro Holnes La Negrita / Malika Aisha Softness will find you / Malika Aisha a letter to my body (the first affirmation is an apology) / Malika Aisha 24 de diciembre / Ivanova Veras de Jesús i think about death all the time (tdor—20 de nov) / Sora Ferri pride / Sora Ferri baby me / Sora Ferri Home Sweet Homeless / Josslyn Glenn With Love, from Our Corner of the Night / Irene Vázquez Dispatches from a Country Without Name / Irene Vázquez About You / Jessica Lanay Run for High Ground / Jessica Lanay 7 Mile Bridge / Jessica Lanay Come Down: Dream / Jessica Lanay Sugar / Edgie Amisial Lulled in the Moment / Jennifer Castillo Sapphic Ode to Alex Reynolds / Jennifer Castillo Pelo Malo / Pelo Bueno / Jennifer Castillo Justice Served / Zoë Gamell Brown tía por qué me dicen q tú no existes / Franchesca Araújo Romo oscuro para Santa Bárbara Africana / Franchesca Araújo Electra / Andrea Alejandro Freire F. Electra / Translated by Jessica Lanay Carne y Espanto / Andrea Alejandro Freire F. Flesh and Fright / Translated by Jessica Lanay Lx DragOna / Andrea Alejandro Freire F. Lx DragOna / Translated by Jessica Lanay La reina del virus / Andrea Alejandro Freire F. Queen of the Virus / Translated by Jessica Lanay Translator’s Note / Jessica Lanay [April 2020] you (a short queer love story) / Des Jackson I pull these words from my gut and leave them to rot / Little Wren Disonancia / Phoenix Ríszing Black Love / Phoenix Ríszing A Thank You Note / Sasha Lamprea Arevalo An Offering / Sa Smythe Futures Madrenuestra / Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro Madrenuestra / Translated by Lawrence Schimel existir / Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro exist / Translated by Lawrence Schimel Afrofeministamente / Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro Afrofeministly / Translated by Lawrence Schimel Decálogo de escritura afrofeminista radical / Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro Decalogue of Radical Afrofeminist Writing / Translated by Lawrence Schimel Opening the Dominican Universe / Alejandro Heredia A Rewiring of the Senses: Considering Abolition / Qui Dorian Alexander All Legs Lead to Naomi Campbell / Darrel Alehandro Holnes Inheritance 1 / Jeydelyn Martinez Inheritance 3 / Jeydelyn Martinez EVOLUTION / Phoenix Ríszing Ain’t I Latina? / Phoenix Ríszing Black girls deserve / Ariana Brown There Will Be / Ariana Brown We Win! / Ivanova Versa de Jesús Hothouse, Or, The Taking Back of the Provision Grounds / Irene Vázquez [9 February 2020] i am scared to touch the world / Des Jackson [8 October 2020] the white owl / Des Jackson Castillo San Cristóbal / Jehoiada Zechariah Calvin Prophecy / Jehoiada Zechariah Calvin When Dreaming of a Future Means Letting Go / Alan Pelaez Lopez an invitation to play, a choreographer’s offering / Ehqs/Izar Coda / Alan Pelaez Lopez Contributors