Liliana Valenzuela is a poet and writer from Mexico City who lives in Austin, Texas. She is the editor of ¡Ahora Sí!, the Spanish-language publication of the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.
In the player above, Valenzuela reads a poem from her new book, “Codex of Love: Bendita Ternura.” It is dedicated to her daughter Sophie.
One of Valenzuela’s most acclaimed works is “On the Eve of Becoming an American Citizen”, a bilingual English-Spanish poem which won the Austin International Poetry Festival’s Christina Sergeyevna Award in 1999.
On the Eve of Becoming an American Citizen
Not me, not I
a gringa I would never be
gritos de “muera el Imperialismo yanqui”
resonando en mi cabeza
yo, la Malinche,
“there is always me-search in research”
going full circle
me an American a Mexican-American
a bona fide Chicana chayote-head
My life is here now
raising my bilingual chipayates
Married, metida hasta las chanclas
In this brave new world.
A binational
una Nutella bicolor
vainilla y chocolate
dual citizenship, at least,
los políticos en México finally woke up
to us “raza” on this side of the border
Welcome Paisano, Bienvenido Amigo,
Hasta que se les prendió el foco, cabrones.
Ahora sí, pásenle, que su nopal está lleno de tunas.
Aquí en la frontera, en el no-man’s-land,
mujer puente, mujer frontera,
mujer Malinche.
Ahora sí, cuando me chiflen por la calle
Me podrán decir “gringüita” y por primera vez
Lo seré, una bolilla, una gabacha,
Mis ojos azules y cabello rubio por fin
Corresponderán a los estereotipos de la gente
“But you don’t look Mexican…”
Enton’s qué parezco? Acaso tengo changos en la cara?
When I die, spread my ashes along the Rio Grande, the
Rio Bravo, where I once swam naked
Valenzuela is an award-winning poet and translator whose work has been published in The Edinburgh Review, Indiana Review, Tigertail, among other publications.
