July Mexico Thinking US Crazy
With Poetry from Claudia Luna Fuentes and Music from France de Griessen
So much to think about, no?
Here in Mexico, we’re dealing with some crazy US stuff, a lot having to do with our northern neighbor interfering with this country’s sovereignty. Were US forces operating illegally in the country to bring down narcos? The US says no, but it also has been claiming yes. Was the US negotiating with narcos without the Mexican government’s knowledge? Again, nothing is clear And, with the deaths of at least 17 Mexican nationals—14 while in ICE custody and 3 during ICE operations—in addition to requests filed with the US Department of Justice and with a number of state Attorneys General, Presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum has filed an official complaint on behalf of Mexico against the US with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Acknowledging the importance of the United States as a neighbor, trading partner, and friend, Sheinbaum sees the US government, in allowing the killing of Mexican citizens, has gone too far.
It isn’t as if ICE cares who it kills. The response is always the same. Deny. Reject. Ignore. In this it echoes the Trump insanity model: Cheat. Lie. Swindle. It would be comic in its absurdity if it weren’t all so true and if so many lives weren’t really at stake. There’s an economy tanking both nationally and internationally under the weight of tariffs, the now forever war in the Middle East, as well as the hideous Humongous Hideous Hijack (you know, Big Beautiful Bill). There’s the First Amendment constantly under attack. Free and fair elections constantly under attack. There’s the attacks on health and healthcare, on science, the environment, on the arts. Civil rights. Human rights. Other than the wealthy elites, is there anyone whose way of living they aren’t bent on destroying? Can it really be the whole citizenry they despise?
Vigil for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national murdered by ICE in Houston on July 7.
And I was in such a good mood. Really. In fact? Just two day ago on Facebook I posted (and keep in mind how rarely I post on FB):
Well, the Mundial is over and that was fun. I was rooting for Spain in the end—hard to root for Argentina in its politics—and it was a terrific match. England beating France the way it did made me feel even better about Mexico. We looked better than France. I’ve gotten past Trump’s attempt to corrupt things and have lots of good feelings for the US team.
What next? The Mets are so bad, despite 2 of 3 from the Phillies. Our local baseball team, the Guerreros are okay, our local soccer team, the Alebrijes have been worse than the Mets (though that season hasn’t even started yet it already looks to be a long one). I’ll pay attention to the Liga Mexicana, maybe the Premier. American football will start soon enough. Go Big Blue.
Of course I’ll keep my eyes on baseball. Mainly though, it looks like working seriously on the next book of poems. On the Poet in Mexico substack. Long walks with the dogs. Staying sober. A life with meaning. Love, social justice, beauty. No complaints.
Sending waves out to the universe, to all in this spinning world.
And with this photo:
Off with the dogs—that’s Xochipilli behind me, Apollo bringing up the rear-
Because that’s how I really want to feel. I don’t want to think of the catastrophes up north. I don’t want to think of what is happening to the world. At least not in the negative. I want to think in the positive. Which brings me to this week’s featured poetry (and below, as well in Good Links, the featured music video). Because in both the poetry and music, there’s a spirit of collaboration, of folks working together. In the poetry, it’s that of the poet and the translator. In the music, a musician and a filmmaker (also a musician). In both cases, I get the sense of artists who get what it means to collaborate, to cooperate, to put beauty in the world.
This Poet in Mexico’s featured poet is Claudia Luna Fuentes. I can’t say I know Claudia, though in inscribing books to each other we have exchanged notes. She did recently gift me some delicious avocados from her garden in Saltillo. I was aware of her poetry beforehand. Claudia is an important figure here, particularly in the northern Mexico poetry scene. She writes an influential column on the arts and poetry for one of the dailies there. A member of Mexico’s Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte, she has published a number of books of poetry, among them Amenazado y brillante, Carne para las flores, Antología personal, Ruido de hormigas and La turba, as well as Donde la piel, from which the poems published here are taken. Her work has been translated into Arabic, English, French, German and Polish.
It’s been through a mutual friend, Jay Miskowiec that I’ve come to know her work better. A good friend of ours down here, the writer/producer/director and activist, Gail Pellett many years ago had suggested Jay and I might like each other and over the past 8 or 9 years we have become close. Jay is a very good fiction writer, a terrific translator, and the director and translation editor of Aliform Publishing, which published my translation of Araceli Mancilla Zayas’ The House of Ciervo earlier this year. Among many things? Jay, who received his MA and PhD in comparative literature from the City University of New York, was the last graduate student of one of my translator heroes, Gregory Rabassa.
The translations here are from the bilingual collection of Donde la Piel/Where the Skin which is just out with Mantis Publishing. I’d read the book, which came out in 2019, in Spanish (a gift from Claudia) before and I was curious to see what Jay would do with the work. I primarily think of him as a translator of prose, particularly fiction, and I’m pretty impressed with what he does with Claudia’s lyrical shifts, the intensity of her images and movement.
It’s with pleasure I welcome Claudia Luna Fuentes and Jay Miskowiec to Poet in Mexico. ¡Que disfruten!
Claudia Luna Fuentes.
Four Poems by Claudia Luna Fuentes/Translations Jay Miskowiec
from Donde la Piel/Where the Skin
EL VALLE DE LAS MONJAS Nacarado sobre albo aparece el valle al fondo el manantial se confunde con otro espejismo lodo y carrizos al llegar y pantanos donde jinetes se hunden silenciosamente donde monjas han atascado su automóvil estamos aquí ciénaga al pie de la montaña tortugas peces caracoles los niños reventamos el espejo de agua: me sumerjo con ojos abiertos aferrada a una roca en el fondo cristalino entre los dedos un pedazo de pan recibe a los peces que muerden mis pies mi mano el pan arriba mi madre hace tiempo llama yo aguanto la respiración es fresca el agua fresco este cardumen del valle sus cuerpos: hojas plateadas de mi alegría aguanto un poco miro las pequeñas colas en agitación las bocas redondas que tragan y devuelven las migajas flotan mis cabellos el manatial pasa un manto cálido por mi nuca el sol atraviesa el agua ilumina mis ojos ilumina los peces estos mis nuevo años para siempre VALLEY OF THE NUNS Pearly white appears the valley at its bottom a spring blends with another mirage we reach the mud and reeds and bogs horseback riders silently sink into where nuns have run aground their car we’re here the marsh at the foot of the mountain turtles fish snails we children shatter the watery mirror and I sink with open eyes clinging to a rock in the crystalline depths from my fingers the fish that bite my feet my hand feed upon a piece of bread my mother calls to me now for a while I hold my breath the water is cool cool this valley’s school of fish their leafy bodies silver-plated with my joy I hold my breath a little longer look at the movement of their tiny tails their rounded mouths that take in and expel the crumbs my hair floats around me the spring wraps a warm mantle around my neck the sun pierces the water it lights my eyes it illuminates the fish these moments will always be me at nine NUNCA SOLEDAD Nací acompañada: la piel de mi madre por fuera la piel de mi hermana a un lado Así me ha dicho la vida que el mundo es para tres al menos ( o para cuatro al menos ) Así hice una familia de tres que luego borró sus fronteras y seguí con las manos agarradas a alguien a algo a sabiendas que otros alguien algo me cubren con sus élitros con su piel o su follaje NEVER SOLITUDE I was born amidst company: the skin of my mother outside the skin of my sister beside me And so life has told me the world is for at least three ( or at least four ) And so I made a family of three its boundaries later erased and I went on with my hands tied to someone to something knowing that others someone something covers me with its wings with its skin or its leaves LA MUJER QUE HUYE DE SU NOMBRE Cuando quieras decir mi nombre di mujer con la cabeza en llamas cuando digas mi nombre di terror sobre una silla de ruedas di mujer cojeando hacia un corredor oscuro cuando digas mi nombre di niña mexicana en un puerto chino di el amor no está repítelo cuando digas mi nombre di aviones que parten y se estrellan cuando digas mi nombre di ratones ardiendo en un foso di no creo repítelo di un beso un beso cuando quieres decir mi nombre THE WOMAN WHO FLEES FROM HER NAME When you want to say my name say woman with her hair on fire when you say my name say terror in a wheelchair say woman limping down a dark corridor when you say my name say Mexican girl in a Chinese port say love’s not there repeat it when you say my name say planes that depart and crash when you say my name say rats burning in a pit say I don’t believe it repeat it say a kiss a kiss when you want to say my name APUNTE FINAL Anónima antes de caminar sobre las flores ( oh sí caminaremos sobre flores ) dame la dentadura salvaje de los jóvenes su certeza enloquecida su fundación del mito sí dame con eso tengo suficiente el resto son ( incrédulo ) únicamente flores y esculturas de su perfume FINAL POINT Nameless one before walking on the flowers ( oh yes we will walk among the flowers ) give me the savage teeth of youth their maddened certainty their mythical founding yes give me that and it will be enough the rest are ( incredulous ) only flowers and sculptures of their scent
Claudia Luna Fuentes and Jay Miskowiec.
GOOD LINKS: FUENTES/MISKOWIEC AND DE GRIESSEN/CANNONBALL
Claudia Luna Fuentes (Jay Miskowiec, translator), Donde la Piel/Where the Skin (2026)
Donde La Piel/Where the Skin is available at Librería Carlos Fuentes, University of Guadalajara; the Librería Bonilla, Mexico City; and the Librería Carlos Monsiváis, Saltillo. It will also be available at the Feria Internacional del Libro de Los Angeles and the Feria Internacional del Libro de Antropología y Historia en Mexico City. You can also order it directly from the publisher at https://mantiseditores.com/libros/donde-la-piel-where-the-skin/. Those of you who know me know that my suggestion is to go into your local bookstore, order a copy for yourself, and suggest the bookstore order a copy or two for their poetry section. Support independent bookstores! Support independent literary presses!
France de Griessen, High Strung Master (2026)
This film, by Cannonball Statman, of France de Griessen’s High Strung Master comes off the wonderful album Dawn Breakers. France and Cannonball have collaborated with each other for a number of years, touring together throughout Europe, playing on each other’s recent albums. Jesse (Cannonball) is currently working on a full-length film of de Griessen. Here’s a review of the album in Agence France News: https://www.agencefrancenews.fr/france-de-griessen-pretresse-de-la-witch-folk/
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