A new anthology book brings Latinx poets from across the Midwest region together to fill the lack of poetry being published in Spanish.
“En El Cinturón Del Viento: Antología de poesía latinx en español del Midwest,” translated into “In the Wind’s Belt: an anthology of latinx poetry in Spanish from the Midwest,” collects the work of 29 Latinx poets from Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Iowa into a larger work. The book was compiled by author, poet, and writer Marlene De La Cruz-Guzmán, vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at Viterbo University, after she realized there were no real avenues in the United States for Latinos to publish works in Spanish, along with a lack of opportunity for young and upcoming poets.
“I’m just a dreamer, and this is what I was dreaming about, was having this,” De La Cruz-Guzmán said. “This is the book that I wish I had had in my hands when I was young and not published in Latin America.”
Part of the inspiration comes from that dream, but also from Oscar Mireles, a poet, artist and long-time advocate for advancing arts, and his own anthology series “I Didn’t Know There Were Latinos in Wisconsin.”
As Mireles started work on the fourth edition of his anthology series, De La Cruz-Guzmán discussed with him a clear lack of anything published purely in Spanish.
“I talked to Oscar, and I said, ‘I think that this is a need in our community, so think about it,” De La Cruz-Guzmán said. “Shortly thereafter, he called me and said, ‘Okay. It’s a go.”
Rather than Mireles taking on another project, he pushed De La Cruz-Guzmán to take on the work — with some help along the way. Mireles has technically retired, but is still engaged in a fair amount of work with his other organization, Latinos Organizing for Understanding and Development (LOUD).
His latest mission is to create the next generation of people who can advance opportunities for others. He says there are enough writers already, but not enough people who publish or have the knowledge to do so.
“I can tell people how to do it, but then they can’t do it. I have to have people do it in order for them to figure it out, and I help along the way,” Mireles said. “You have to have a lot more patience. It’s a lot more work. That’s why people don’t want to do it.”
But De La Cruz-Guzmán navigated that challenge. She was initially worried about how to find submissions and publishable quality ones. However, an influx of interest helped the process.
“It was madness trying to rally that many folks together, but they are absolutely wonderful,” De La Cruz-Guzmán said. “It was a back and forth with the authors in a really productive way, so it was enjoyable.”
The book features the works of 29 poets, both well-known and those who have not been published before. Some recognizable names from Wisconsin include De La Cruz-Guzmán, Mireles, Dana Maya, Nilvio Alexander Punguil Bravo, Peter Marina, Jesse Giovanni Roque, Manuel Fernández, Jose Antonio Martínez Cabral and Nancy Bird-Soto.
Having the poems be completely in Spanish presented an opportunity to express heritage, De La Cruz-Guzmán said. While she normally publishes in both English and Spanish, that’s not the case for everyone.
“There are some folks who are connected to their heritage truly only through Spanish. English doesn’t play into it,” De La Cruz-Guzmán said. “And there’s some folks who can only write in Spanish, and we were missing out on those folks with some of the other collections I was seeing.”
Common themes from the poetry anthology touch on topics like upbringing, heritage and history.
“It isn’t always limited to our own ancestral countries. It also goes by the things we see, and how we are when we live in the Midwest. What we remember, what we yearn for, what is important to us,” De La Cruz-Guzmán said.
De La Cruz-Guzmán does have her eyes on doing another poetry anthology in a similar vein in the future, but plans to wait a couple of years. The first edition of “En El Cinturón Del Viento” has opened the possibility for more collaboration in the future with poets used in the book, those who submitted but were not included this round or some who may be inspired to do something similar, both De La Cruz-Guzmán and Mireles said.
“En El Cinturón Del Viento: Antología de poesía latinx en español del Midwest” will be available to order via LOUD’s website or via email for a copy at [email protected].
