Finalist, Poetry, Reading the West (Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association)
Best Poetry Books of 2023, Book Riot
  These voices rise as a canto, singing the joys, sorrows, and praises of individual experiences to form a poetry collective that encompasses the poetic-cultural landscape that is New Mexico.”—Levi Romero (New Mexico Inaugural Poet Laureate) and Michelle Otero (Emerita Albuquerque Poet Laureate) New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023 is an ode and homage to nuestra querencia, our beloved homeland. Two hundred original, previously unpublished poems resonate themes including community, culture, history, identity, landscape, and water. From a diverse group of poets, the poems are introspective and personal; reflective and astute; steady and celebratory. Including poignant, unique, even humorous perspectives on life in New Mexico influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, this collective of voices serves as a welcome remedio to all aspects of post-pandemic life, for ears aching for words of beauty, strength, and solace as we emerge from the cocoon of survivability.

“Now, as I contemplate stepping into a role as [Chimayó] elder, I hope the sentiment of community endures and that this book inspires new generations of Chimayosos to continue building toward a bright future—while remaining rooted firmly in a remarkable history.”—Don J. Usner, from the Preface (2024)
 
“Brimming with voices, las voces de la gente…. the first-person narrator who returns again and again to the text like a knowing and trusted pariente inviting the reader to sit for a while in the Plaza del Cerro. —Jim Sagel
 
“Quite simply…the best history yet made of a northern New Mexico community. It is thorough, balanced, gracefully written, and blessed with an insider’s access and affection.”—William De Buys

Chimayó is renowned for its Hispano master weaving families, lowriders, and its storied church, El Santurio de Chimayó. The old Plaza del Cerro had once been the village’s center place, where locals gathered to pick up mail, socialize and celebrate religious and family events. Over the years after WWII, the plaza was neglected, but the memory of the once-vibrant place remained vivid in the stories of village elders.
The first edition of Sabino’s Map, published in 1995, documented oral histories of these elders. It would prove to be a critical turning point for many Chimayosos. At the Chimayó book launch, Usner recalls locals embraced the book, one cousin of his even declaring, “For the first time in my life I feel like I can be proud to be from Chimayó.” In the past thirty years since its publication, the community and its people have been revitalized with the help of the Chimayó Cultural Preservation Association and the establishment of a museum on the old plaza—in the home of Usner’s ancestors.

This landmark publication, read and passed on through generations, is considered a classic of New Mexico literature, alongside other treasured books including John Nichols’s Milagro Beanfield War, Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me Ultima, and Ruben Cobos’s Dictionary of New Mexico and Northern New Mexico Spanish.  
 

A poet’s creative process comes to light in this latest book by National Book Award recipient Arthur Sze. Sze has assembled an illuminating selection of seven interviews, three essays, and poems to examine the evolution of his compositions, his decades teaching poetry, and his deep connection to the cultures and landscape of New Mexico.
          A son of Chinese immigrants who was born and raised in New York City and on Long Island, Sze first studied science at MIT. His call to write poetry pulled him away from that academic pursuit, but the sciences would continue to influence his writing. In 2024, Sze received the National Book Foundation Science + Literature Award for The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems (Copper Canyon Press). Sze spent over two decades as an educator, teaching creative writing and poetry to Indigenous students from across America at Santa Fe’s Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). In this compilation, Sze is interviewed by his former IAIA student, award-winning Diné poet, editor, and visual artist Esther Belin.
Sze’s fluency in his parents’ native tongue, along with study at the University of California at Berkeley, allowed him to delve into Chinese poetry, both as a student and translator of classical and contemporary works. The White Orchard shows his wider connection to Asian American poetry across the United States and how he has drawn inspiration from translating Chinese poetry into English. Arthur Sze is one of our finest poets, and this collection demonstrates how literature can enrich us all.