“Noches de fango y hojarasca”, “Nights of Mud and Fallen Leaves”, “Νύχτες με λάσπη και ξερόφυλλα” por Xánath Caraza

“Noches de fango y hojarasca”, “Nights of Mud and Fallen Leaves”, “Νύχτες με λάσπη και ξερόφυλλα” por Xánath Caraza

 

Xanath Caraza

Noches de fango y hojarasca

 

Un ladrido se mezcla

con el trinar tropical.

 

Flores cargadas

de tonos rojos

se desbordan.

 

El cielo se ilumina

de picante luz.

 

Despertar abrupto,

violenta soledad.

 

Humedad sofocante

satura las fosas nasales.

 

Un grueso respirar

es el ritmo de esta

adolorida ciudad.

 

Vidas laceradas

en noches

de fango

y hojarasca.

 

¡Abrasantes destellos!

 

Fluye, vacío.

 

Alcanza

la superficie

de la luna.

 

Rompe

las puertas

del infierno.

 

Xanath Caraza

Nights of Mud and Fallen Leaves

 

A barking sound mingles

with the tropical birdsong.

 

Flowers filled

with shades of red

spill over.

 

The sky is illuminated

by sizzling light.

 

Abrupt awakening,

violent solitude.

 

Suffocating humidity

floods my nostrils.

 

Heavy breath

is the rhythm of this

suffering city.

 

Lives lacerated

on nights

of mud

and fallen leaves.

 

Flashes of fiery light!

 

Flow, void.

 

Reach

the surface of

the moon.

 

Topple 

the gates

of hell.

 

Xanath Caraza

Νύχτες με λάσπη και ξερόφυλλα

 

Ένα γάβγισμα μπλέκεται

με το τροπικό κελάηδημα.

 

Λουλούδια γεμάτα

τόνους του κόκκινου

ξεχειλίζουν.

 

Ο ουρανός φωτίζεται

με τολμηρό φως.

 

Ξύπνημα απότομο,

βίαιη μοναξιά.

 

Υγρασία πνιγηρή

γεμίζει τα ρουθούνια μου.

 

Μια τραχιά αναπνοή

είναι ο ρυθμός αυτής

της πονεμένης πόλης.

 

Ζωές κομματιασμένες

σε νύχτες

με λάσπη

και ξερόφυλλα.

 

Λάμψεις που καίνε!

 

Ρέε, κενό.

 

Φτάσε

την επιφάνεια

του φεγγαριού.

 

Σπάσε                    

τις πόρτες

της κολάσεως.

 

“Noches de fango y hojarasca” is part of the collection Lágrima roja by Xánath Caraza (Editorial Nazarí, 20217).  This collection was originally written in Spanish.  Of the International Latino Book Awards, Caraza received First Place for Lágrima roja for “Best Book of Poetry in Spanish by One Author” in 2018.

 

Xanath Caraza

“Nights of Mud and Fallen Leaves” and “Νύχτες με λάσπη και ξερόφυλλα” are part of the collection Red Teardrop / Κόκκινο δάκρυ (Pandora Lobo Estepario Productions, 2022).  This collection by Caraza was translated into the English by Sandra Kingery and Aaron Willsea, and into the Greek by Natasa Lambrou. Of the International Latino Book Awards, in 2023, Red Teardrop received Gold Medal for Best Fiction Book Translation—Spanish to English.

 

Cover art by Miguel López Lemus.

Reflecting on the Year in Poetry

Melinda Palacio, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate 2023-2025

As we approach the final days of 2025, I am looking back at the year’s highlights. February began with acclaimed poet Naomi Shihab Nye’s 7^th visit to Santa Barbara. This was my first time seeing her in person; it was wonderful, uplifting, and inspiring. April is always important because it is National Poetry Month. I have had the pleasure of collaborating with Scott Green with California State Parks in bringing Poetry in Parks to Santa Barbara. The Presidio happens to be the only state park in Santa Barbara. That meant we were able to use the stage and present, music, poetry, and dance. I love it when I can bring together my interests in dance and music to poetry presentations. Next year’s Poetry in Parks will take place April 18, this time in the Presidio Chapel. Save the date.

Somos Xicanas, Jesnia Chávez, Melinda Palacio, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Brenda Vaca

May was a special month because I received a Woman of Achievement award through the Association of Women in Communications Santa Barbara. I also received a plaque, commemorating my work with the Essay and Poetry Awards for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee of Santa Barbara. And a young poet named me a role model at her school's citizenship breakfast to honor community leaders. 

In the Fall, I had the pleasure of participating in the Tahoe Literary Festival on two panels, including an all poets laureate panel. Another highlight was reading at the Beyond Baroque, hosted by West Hollywood Poet Laureate Jen Cheng. It was a reading that featured Jose Enrique Medina’s book launch for his award-winning Haunt Me. This reading was rounded out by power houses Luivette Resto and Cynthia Alessandra Briano. The year was also marked by readings for Somos Xicanas from Riot of Roses Press, one of which included lowriders at the Santa Barbara Public Library.

Jen Cheng, Jose Erique Medina, Melinda Palacio, Cynthia Alessandra Briano, Luivette Resto

The year capped off with Enid Osborn’s gorgeous poetry collection: Pedregosa St, from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, one of my favorite books of the year. This was the last poetry book I read in 2025. It made me fall in love with Santa Barbara all over again. It also inspired me to work a little harder at getting my next poetry book published. Reyna Grande's Migrant Heart, essays arrived just before the new year ended and it will be my first read of the year. Looking forward to it. My New Year’s Resolution is to see my two manuscripts become tangible books. I am visualizing a new poetry book and a novel. 

 

*an earlier version of this column was published in the Santa Barbara Independent 

Happy New Year! From Daniel Cano, Bloguero

Venice guitarist, Coco Montoya, Celebrating the Blues, bringing in the new year.

Feliz Año Nuevo/ Happy New Year

 To all of our readers, Happy New Year 2026!

Para todos nuestros lectores, ¡Feliz año nuevo 2026!

Stuff of Memories; Con Garro y Sin Paz

 La Bloga-Tuesday welcomes Guest Reviewer Rey Rodriguez and a book adding insight to a story of a neglected daughter-famous father, in this case Mexican Nobelist Octavio Paz’ daughter. Today’s lead article celebrates things found in the ruins of the Eaton fire.

 

 

Stuff Not Lost In the Fire: Treasures of Memory

Michael Sedano

 

Stuff that goes through fire and dug from the ashes come back like a scarred phenix, changed in its passage through the crucible into renewed versions of their essential selves, the memories they hold impervious to the firestorm.

 

My father’s strong box held his WWII memorabilia along with Dad’s high school graduation watch, treasures from his courtship of my mother, precious times of his days on this earth. The warped lid rests uncomfortably on the contorted blistered box. 

 

Barbara’s heart collection featured a colorful ceramic corazón that was born in fire and emerges from fire in two pieces, its bright contours coated with an orange oxidation sweated out of the glaze the clay’s second firing. I hesitate to wash away the sweat.

 

A Review: Con Garro y Sin Paz, presented by Todos Santos Writers Workshop at Beyond Baroque.

 

Rey Rodriguez

 

Iván Salinas continues to curate important events that transcend borders and draw on our Latino past to inform the present.

 

On December 5, 2025, I attended his latest entitled, Con Garro y Sin Paz, presented by Todos Santos Writers Workshop and held at Beyond Baroque (https://www.beyondbaroque.org/). This event was a reading, conversation, and book signing of Marcela Magdalena Deschamps’ latest book, Con Garro y Sin Paz. It is an extraordinary story inspired by the life of Helena Paz Garro, the daughter of the famous Mexican literary couple of Octavio Paz and Elena Garro. 

 

Helena Paz Garro often talked about the distance that she felt from her father following the events of 1968 in Tlatelolco, where soldiers shot down hundreds of students, when she and her mother were accused of orchestrating the student movement. Ultimately, though, Paz Garro forgave him despite his abandonment of her. Elena Garro was considered one of Mexico’s finest writers, but because she was a woman, she did not receive the acclaim she deserved. Paz and Elena Garro were married in 1937. They had one daughter, Helena, and divorced in 1959.

 

It is with this backdrop that Professor Marcela Becerra García, California State University Channel Islands, interviewed Deschamps to discuss her fascinating book, which tells the tale of a forgotten house in Cuernava where Paz Garro lives the last days of her life among feral cats and ghosts of the past. Paz Garro is a complicated character who could not have children because she was raped at the age of three and contracted syphilis. The disease and its treatment ensured that she would never bear children. The rape likely led to a life of deep mental illness, which was largely left untreated. 

 

Nevertheless, Paz Garro was surrounded by books and literature and was extremely well educated in European boarding schools. As a result, her great legacy is her poetry, which Deschamps keeps alive in her novel by including unedited versions of some of her most lyrical verses. 

 

It is important to note that Octavio Paz often did not even mention his daughter’s existence. This absence is notable and makes Deschamps' work even more important than ever to ensure that both Elena Garro and Helena Paz Garro are studied and remembered. Any discussion of Mexican literature and Paz’s legacy is incomplete without a discussion of these two important female writers. Deschamps revives their memory and honors them by writing this extraordinary book that becomes a must-read if we are to truly understand Mexican literature and the unsung role that women played in it.

About Rey Rodriguez: 

Rey M. Rodríguez is a writer, advocate, and attorney. He lives in Pasadena, California. He is working on a novel set in Mexico City and a non-fiction history of a prominent nonprofit in East LA. He has attended the Yale Writers' Workshop multiple times and Palabras de Pueblo workshop once. He also participates in Story Studio's Novel in a Year Program. He is a first-year fiction creative writing student at the Institute for American Indian Arts' MFA Program. His poetry is published in Huizache. His other interviews and book reviews can be found at La Bloga, the world's longest-established Chicana-Chicano, Latina-Latino literary blog, Chapter House's Storyteller’s Blog, Pleiades Magazine, and the Los Angeles Review.

“Carmín bordado en el cielo”, “Crimson Embroidered into the Sky”, “Κρεμεζί κεντημένο στον ουρανό” por Xánath Caraza

“Carmín bordado en el cielo”, “Crimson Embroidered into the Sky”, “Κρεμεζί κεντημένο στον ουρανό” por Xánath Caraza

 

Carmín bordado en el cielo

 

De ámbar líquido rebosa el hontanar. 

La ondulada tarde colmada

de canoras melodías.

 

La sangre brota de la tierra

y mancha el cielo crepuscular.

 

Chocan los sentimientos

insoportable dolor.

 

Canta, justicia divina,

manifiéstate entre nosotros,

salva a tus hijas.

 

Allá, acá,

cerca y lejos,

dentro y fuera es

donde te necesitamos.

 

No más muertes de inocentes mujeres.

No más muertes de gente con hambre.

No más niños huyendo de la muerte.

No más mujeres desaparecidas.

No más padres tragados por la oscuridad.

 

¿Cómo vivir con el carmín bordado en el cielo?

¿Cómo andar los pasos cubiertos de sangre?

¿Cómo escribir con las manos adoloridas?

¿Cómo cantar si de mis labios escurre dolor?

 

Líquido amor,

corazón áureo,

entiérrate en mi alma,

deslava esta noche violenta.

 

Crimson Embroidered into the Sky

 

Natural springs spill over with liquid amber.

The undulating evening is saturated

by warbling melodies.

 

Blood sprouts from the earth

and stains the twilight sky.

 

Emotions collide,

unbearable pain.

 

Sing, divine justice,

take shape among us, 

bring salvation to your daughters.

 

Here and there,

near and far,

inside and out,

that is where we need you.

 

No more deaths of innocent women.

No more deaths of the hungry masses.

No more children fleeing death.

No more women disappeared.

No more parents swallowed by darkness.

 

How can one live with crimson embroidered into the sky?

How can one walk the paths bathed by blood?

How can one write with hands wracked with pain?

How can I sing with sorrow spilling from my lips?

 

Liquid love,

heart of gold,

bury yourself in my soul,

wash away this violent night.

 

 

Κρεμεζί κεντημένο στον ουρανό

 

Από κεχριμπάρι υγρό η πηγή ξεχειλίζει.

Το κυματιστό απόγευμα γεμίζει

από ρυθμικές μελωδίες.

 

Το αίμα αναβλύζει απ’ τη γη

και λεκιάζει τον ουρανό του δειλινού.

 

Συγκρούονται τα συναισθήματα

αβάσταχτος πόνος.

 

Τραγούδα, δικαιοσύνη θεϊκή,

φανερώσου ανάμεσά μας,

σώσε τις κόρες σου.

 

Εκεί, εδώ,

κοντά και μακριά,

μέσα κι έξω είναι

που σε χρειαζόμαστε.

 

Όχι άλλοι θάνατοι αθώων γυναικών.

Όχι άλλοι θάνατοι ανθρώπων πεινασμένων.

Όχι άλλα παιδιά που τρέχουν να ξεφύγουν απ’ το θάνατο.

Όχι άλλες γυναίκες εξαφανισμένες.

Όχι άλλοι γονείς που τους κατάπιε το σκοτάδι.

 

Πώς να ζήσω με το κρεμεζί κεντημένο στον ουρανό;

Πώς να περπατήσω με βήματα καλυμμένα από αίμα;

Πώς να γράψω με τα χέρια πονεμένα;

Πώς να τραγουδήσω αν απ’ τα χείλη μου στάζει πόνος;

 

Υγρή αγάπη,

καρδιά χρυσαφένια,

θάψου στην ψυχή μου,

ξεκάρφωσε αυτή την βίαιη νύχτα.

 

 

Xanath Caraza

“Carmín bordado en el cielo” is part of the collection Lágrima roja by Xánath Caraza (Editorial Nazarí, 20217).  This collection was originally written in Spanish.  Of the International Latino Book Awards, Caraza received First Place for Lágrima roja for “Best Book of Poetry in Spanish by One Author” in 2018.

 

Xanath Caraza

“Crimson Embroidered into the Sky” and “Κρεμεζί κεντημένο στον ουρανό” are part of the collection Red Teardrop / Κόκκινο δάκρυ (Pandora Lobo Estepario Productions, 2022).  This collection by Caraza was translated into the English by Sandra Kingery and Aaron Willsea, and into the Greek by Natasa Lambrou. Of the International Latino Book Awards, in 2023, Red Teardrop received Gold Medal for Best Fiction Book Translation—Spanish to English.

 

Xanath Caraza

Cover art by Miguel López Lemus.