Santa Tarantula
University of Notre Dame Press · Paperback · February 1, 2024
The poems in Santa Tarantula grant an urgent and haunting voice to the voiceless, explore ancient narratives, delve into Cuban history and identity, and confront trauma and violence.
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- Who it’s for
- These poems bring Cuban history, silenced lives, trauma, and survival together.
- Themes
- Cuban history and identity, Trauma and violence, Silenced voices
- Genres
- Caribbean & Latin American Poetry, Hispanic American Poetry, LGBTQ+ Poetry
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Start with this bookAbout this book
The poems in Santa Tarantula grant an urgent and haunting voice to the voiceless, explore ancient narratives, delve into Cuban history and identity, and confront trauma and violence. Jordan Pérez explores the tension between fear and reprieve, between hopelessness and light, in her debut collection, Santa Tarantula, the tenth winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize.
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Pérez lends voices to the forgotten: to the political dissidents, gay men, and religious minorities imprisoned in the forced-labor camps of 1960s Cuba; to biblical women who were deemed unworthy to name; to survivors of sexual violence who grapple with paralyzing fear and isolation. With rich detail, these poems weave together the stories of those who go unheard with family memories, explore moments of unspeakable tragedy with glimpses of a life beyond the trauma, and draw out what it means to be vulnerable and the strength it takes to endure. Santa Tarantula pushes through the darkness, cataloging unspoken pain and multigenerational damage, and revealing that, sometimes, survival is in the telling.
Cuban History, Unheard Voices
These poems bring Cuban history, silenced lives, trauma, and survival together.
Come here for
- Poems exploring ancient narratives and Cuban history and identity
- Voices of political dissidents imprisoned in 1960s Cuba
Expect
- Confrontations with trauma and violence
- Tensions between fear and reprieve, hopelessness and light
Where it sits
| LGBTQ+ Poetry | 61% |
|---|---|
| Caribbean & Latin American Poetry | 55% |
| Hispanic American Poetry | 48% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Inspirational & Religious Poetry
- Hispanic American Poetry
- Caribbean & Latin American Poetry
- Family Poems
Show all 5 publisher categories
- Women Poets
- Authors
- Jordan Pérez
- Publisher
- University of Notre Dame Press
- Published
- February 1, 2024
- Format
- Paperback
- Theme
- Cuban history and identity · Trauma and violence · Silenced voices
- Reading lane
- Inspirational & Religious Poetry