Guest Review: Daughterland by Margaret Elysia Garcia

Guest Reviewer: Maria J. Estrada

Don't you love it when you discover a new poet that speaks to your identity and a broader social context in regards to feminism? The collection the daughterland does not disappoint. 

Margaret Elysia Garcia has a beautiful, complex writing style that addresses issues of identity and one of my favorite topics: dealing with Covid. 

The first poem, “The Palette in the Room,” is just sublime, with “I am bruised purple by this motherhood” (9) being one of my favorite lines in the whole collection. I also enjoyed the haikus which offered a refreshing pace. 

The organic emergence of politics works really well throughout the volume, and her style is not proselytizing or forcing an important point that sacrifices the art. 

Motherhood is a theme as well as relationships to daughters. That is, in fact, the central theme. Daughterland goes beyond that. 

The collection does a wonderful job of speaking to women's rights issues, especially as they impact women of color, and as they affect youth. In “Bright and Shining Future,” Garcia writes:

My daughter is the scent of a bright and shining future. I bury

my face in her hair.

But there’s already decay–

Everything is fuck, now. The planet. The virus. Democracy.

Fuck.

My future is fucked, she says, We are in the past tense &

people need to shut up. (31)

The images are beautiful and haunting. Often Garcia, like many accomplished poets, juxtaposes horrifying images with wonderful ones. However, I found the issues of identity and race to be more compelling, especially as a person of color who suffered discrimination in grade school.

In terms of structure, the poems are not overly-long; in fact, I read through the collection in one pleasant sitting. 

I hope to teach sections of this collection to my college students; the collection is really appropriate for grade school and high school students, too. 

I plan on giving my 13-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter a copy because the collection does have the reader question the place of daughters in society. How are they exploited by the male gaze? How are they diminished by social expectations? 

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't give a resounding congratulations to El Martillo Press! The book design by David Romero (who I am a huge fan of as he is an amazing poet) was gorgeous and hats off to the cover designer. The book is gorgeous! 

My only criticism is that the book needs to be in Kindle format; as an owner of a small, charity press, I understand that poetry lines may be sacrificed when converted to an online format, but the poetry is too vital for it to only live in print. 

Nevertheless, I look forward to buying more books, not just from Garcia, but this amazing press.

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MARIA J. ESTRADA (they/them/elle) is an English college professor of Composition, Literature, and their favorite, Creative Writing. Estrada grew up in the desert outside of Yuma, Arizona in the real Barrio de Los Locos, a barrio comprised of new Mexican immigrants and first-generation Chicanos. Drawing from this setting and experiences, Estrada writes like a locx every minute they can—all while magically balancing their work and family obligations. Estrada lives in Chicago’s south side with their wonderfully supportive husband, two remarkable children, and a menagerie of animals.