Advent Calendar Day 20 - December 1
Excerpt from Pura Puta—a poetic memoir by Anna C. Martinez
Plus, get 20% off this title until midnight tonight, Monday, December 1. No code required!
A powerful collection from the City of Albuquerque Poet Laureate Emerita
“Powerful and brave, Anna C. Martinez’s poetic memoir, Pura Puta, pulses with the electricity of a million beating hearts. Moving between the visceral and delicate, these poems are healing and transformative. What a badass Chicana poet.”
—Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Woman of Light and the American Book Award winner Sabrina & Corina
Rematch
You look at me like you could crack that stick over my skull.
Instead you whack the thick end on the unrelenting wood
floor.
Good game, your lips mutter, how about best three out of five?
You’re on, I say, figuring I owe you for that date that didn’t
work out.
You fold at the waist, lower your chest to the table, draw
eyebrows together. Eyes reflect the green as you fill, grip,
shake the rack and lift, pick and grind
your stick in a cube of blue, focus on the spot that will rocket
colored balls from pocket to pocket, lay tip of cue on the skin
hammock that sways between trigger finger and thumb, stop,
take a scripted sip from a can of warm beer, set, and wipe a
hand over your wallet pocket.
I flash my ivory, lick my lips as you re-grip your stick, fold at
the waist, lower your chest to the table
and break.
Read more of these poems in PURA PUTA: A Poetic Memoir by Anna C. Martinez.
20% off today only. Plus, browse our entire bookstore—order by December 5 for holiday delivery.
About the Author
Anna C. Martinez is a mother, grandmother, performance/competitive/slam poet, and civil rights attorney. She served as the Poet Laureate of the City of Albuquerque from 2022-2024. Born in Los Angeles at the height of its civil rights movements, she was then raised from school age in Española, New Mexico. She is the in-house poet at Las Pistoleras Instituto Cultural de Arte in Taos and has held titles as ABQ Chicano/a City Slam Champ, XXX Haiku City Champ, and 2019 City Slam Champ for team Mindwell Slam. She is also on the board of directors for Burque Revolt Poetry Slam and opens her home for free to touring poets. She lives in Albuquerque.