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Relinquenda

Poems

Part of National Poetry Series

Author Alexandra Regalado
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Paperback
$16.95 US
Beacon Press
On sale Oct 11, 2022 | 96 Pages | 9780807007105
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A 4-part poetry collection that explores women’s roles in familial dynamics, immigration, and El Salvador’s civil war while reflecting on the death of the poet’s father

A National Poetry Series winner, selected by the celebrated poet Reginald Dwayne Betts

When COVID-19 broke and the United States closed the border to travel, Alexandra Lytton Regalado was separated from family back in El Salvador. She wrote Relinquenda entirely during lockdown as a meditation on cancer, the passing of her father, and the renewed significance of community.

The central part of the collection focuses on her father during his 6-year struggle with cancer and considers how his stoicism, alcoholism, and hermitage might serve as mirror and warning. In contrast, she dedicates other poems to what it means for daughters, mothers, and wives to care for another as reflected in her relationships with the men in her life.

Situated in the tropical landscapes of Miami, Florida and El Salvador, the poems also negotiate the meaning of home, reflecting on immigration and the ties between United States and El Salvador 30 years after her birth country’s decade-long civil war.

In a lyrical and often bilingual voice, Regalado explores the impermanence and the body, communication and inarticulation, and the need to let go in order to heal regrets.
Relinquenda

I.

Mamá Tacuazín
Hija, an Inheritance
The Giantess
Videofeed from the American Embassy of El Salvador
I Prided Myself on Being Aguantadora
El Puente Que Nos Une
A Family History of Alcoholism
Cavities Are Inherited
Elegy with Wisdom Teeth
How to Crack an Egg
Hands Just Like Two Balloons
Hacer de Tripas Corazón
Caracol

II.

What My Father Taught Me About Black Holes
Probably the Most My Father Has Ever Said to Me
The Hero Myth
Drownproofing
Invasive
Vesper Bells
What My Father Taught Me About Evolution
Escape Room
Turning the Stone, Contrapuntal
Portrait of My Father X Days Before Dying
Concierto de Aranjuez
The Garden of Earthly Delights
Hesperides

III.

And Per Se And
Ánima, Silueta de Cohetes: The Night I Met Him
When We Were Long-Distance Lovers
Marginalia of La Vita Nuova
Tin Anniversary
Do You Know How Ugly You Are to Me Right Now?
Hiking Through a Slot Canyon
Marriage as Tributary: What’s Left in the Bend of May
Bufo Lovesong
Blank Card

IV.

Stalemate
Caravana Migrante
Pentimento
Hermitage
To My Reflection as I Wash Dishes
Vanitas
Five American Sentences
Verano, El Repunte
What My Father Taught Me About Time Travel
The Art Is Knowing When to Stop

Acknowledgments
Notes
Special Thanks
Alexandra Lytton Regalado is author, editor, or translator of more than 15 Central American-themed books. She is also the cofounder and codirector of Editorial Kalina. Her poetry collection, Matria, won the St. Lawrence Book Award. She is a CantoMundo fellow, winner of the Coniston Prize, and her work has appeared in The Best American Poetry, The Academy of American Poets, Narrative, Gulf Coast, and Creative Nonfiction among others. Connect with her online at alexandralyttonregalado.com.
Alexandra Regalado View titles by Alexandra Regalado

About

A 4-part poetry collection that explores women’s roles in familial dynamics, immigration, and El Salvador’s civil war while reflecting on the death of the poet’s father

A National Poetry Series winner, selected by the celebrated poet Reginald Dwayne Betts

When COVID-19 broke and the United States closed the border to travel, Alexandra Lytton Regalado was separated from family back in El Salvador. She wrote Relinquenda entirely during lockdown as a meditation on cancer, the passing of her father, and the renewed significance of community.

The central part of the collection focuses on her father during his 6-year struggle with cancer and considers how his stoicism, alcoholism, and hermitage might serve as mirror and warning. In contrast, she dedicates other poems to what it means for daughters, mothers, and wives to care for another as reflected in her relationships with the men in her life.

Situated in the tropical landscapes of Miami, Florida and El Salvador, the poems also negotiate the meaning of home, reflecting on immigration and the ties between United States and El Salvador 30 years after her birth country’s decade-long civil war.

In a lyrical and often bilingual voice, Regalado explores the impermanence and the body, communication and inarticulation, and the need to let go in order to heal regrets.

Table of Contents

Relinquenda

I.

Mamá Tacuazín
Hija, an Inheritance
The Giantess
Videofeed from the American Embassy of El Salvador
I Prided Myself on Being Aguantadora
El Puente Que Nos Une
A Family History of Alcoholism
Cavities Are Inherited
Elegy with Wisdom Teeth
How to Crack an Egg
Hands Just Like Two Balloons
Hacer de Tripas Corazón
Caracol

II.

What My Father Taught Me About Black Holes
Probably the Most My Father Has Ever Said to Me
The Hero Myth
Drownproofing
Invasive
Vesper Bells
What My Father Taught Me About Evolution
Escape Room
Turning the Stone, Contrapuntal
Portrait of My Father X Days Before Dying
Concierto de Aranjuez
The Garden of Earthly Delights
Hesperides

III.

And Per Se And
Ánima, Silueta de Cohetes: The Night I Met Him
When We Were Long-Distance Lovers
Marginalia of La Vita Nuova
Tin Anniversary
Do You Know How Ugly You Are to Me Right Now?
Hiking Through a Slot Canyon
Marriage as Tributary: What’s Left in the Bend of May
Bufo Lovesong
Blank Card

IV.

Stalemate
Caravana Migrante
Pentimento
Hermitage
To My Reflection as I Wash Dishes
Vanitas
Five American Sentences
Verano, El Repunte
What My Father Taught Me About Time Travel
The Art Is Knowing When to Stop

Acknowledgments
Notes
Special Thanks

Author

Alexandra Lytton Regalado is author, editor, or translator of more than 15 Central American-themed books. She is also the cofounder and codirector of Editorial Kalina. Her poetry collection, Matria, won the St. Lawrence Book Award. She is a CantoMundo fellow, winner of the Coniston Prize, and her work has appeared in The Best American Poetry, The Academy of American Poets, Narrative, Gulf Coast, and Creative Nonfiction among others. Connect with her online at alexandralyttonregalado.com.
Alexandra Regalado View titles by Alexandra Regalado

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