National Poetry Month Feature: Li Yun Alvarado
Posted on: April 17, 2016
Another poet and poem for National Poetry Month! I’m delighted to welcome Li Yun Alvarado back to The Practice of Creativity. Li Yun is a poet and scholar. She wrote an amazing guest post in January on ‘The Art of Low Stakes Daily Writing and How It Can Transform Your Year’. It’s a must read.
A poet and scholar, her work has appeared or is forthcoming in New Madrid; Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education; The Acentos Review; and PMS Poemmemoirstory among others. In 2012, her work received an honorable mention for The Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. She is currently the Senior Poetry Editor for Kweli Journal and is an alumna of VONA/Voices Writing Workshop and AROHO.
I’m honored that today she is sharing a poem with us. Her new chapbook is Words or Water from Finishing Line Press. I’ve already pre-ordered my copy and can’t wait for it to arrive.
His Thumb on My Belly
To the right of my belly-
button: purple-black
oval print on sun-kissed flesh.
A spirit pinching
while I sleep. Is it
him? A hint? Here,
he whispers. Singed meat.
His thumb on my
belly. Now you know.
And they (some strange,
foreign they) say there’s
comfort in the knowing.
Basements are forgotten
places where moldy lies
cling to dank walls.
On my back: the prickle
sting of inked flesh.
It knows how to burn.
Bruise. Heal. His thumb
on my belly. My aunt
lights candles, piles
pennies in corners, tells
tales of muertitos
who pinch at night. His
thumb on my belly. His
boys cloaked in black
masks. Friendship? Folly?
When they
faced him, (my thumb
on his belly), not flesh,
not lead, not prayer
could stop the blood.
Li Yun Alvarado is the author of Words or Water (forthcoming) and Nuyorico, CA. A poet and scholar, her work has appeared or is forthcoming in New Madrid; Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education; The Acentos Review; and PMS Poemmemoirstory among others. In 2012, her work received an honorable mention for The Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. She is currently the Senior Poetry Editor for Kweli Journal and is an alumna of VONA/Voices Writing Workshop and AROHO. She holds a BA in Spanish and sociology from Yale University and an MA and PhD in English from Fordham University. Li Yun is a native New Yorker living in Long Beach, California who takes frequent trips to Salinas, Puerto Rico to visit la familia. You can learn more about Li Yun and her work on Facebook and at www.liyunalvarado.com
You can pre-order Words or Water here!
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