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With the River on Our FaceUniversity of Arizona Press, Fall 2016
"Emmy Pérez is a word musician and magician. This book has a powerful pull." –Luis Alberto Urrea "In divided times, Emmy Pérez's voice speaks not only from America, but from the Americas, north and south. A wise, healing poetry." –Sandra Cisneros "Emmy Pérez’s singular voice is voluminous in scope. Some of her best poems are as incantatory as the Rio Grande is long and leave us breathless in a very marvelous and satisfying way. The poet’s magical language shields us through checkpoints... These beautifully rendered poems speak to all of us who have an interest in life, liberty, land, and love." –Reggie Scott Young "Radiant with place—specifically, the Southwest and the Texas borderlands—this new work from Pérez (Solstice) fiercely embraces the natural world, and though she doesn’t aim for prettiness, the sheer physicality of her poems can be intoxicating. . . Yet she urgently affirms her sense of self. . . even as she seeks the other; the opening poem vividly negotiates bobcat scat, indigo snake, and red firetail in search of 'You.' And she layers in political concern forthrightly and refreshingly, to make an accomplished whole. . . Pérez is a gifted writer for everyone to watch." -"Top Fall Poetry: Great Reading Beyond the Basics from Veterans and Newcomers Alike," Library Journal, by Barbara Hoffert, Oct. 17, 2016 "In her spiritual vision, the borderlands are also inhabited by positive powers: curanderas... and the rich literary legacy that celebrates the shared land and struggles of Mexicans, Native Americans and Texans alike. Above all she praises the role of the poets, those 'little gods' who can 'build poems faster than the wall's construction.' Though they don't overlook the violence of the border, these poems blaze with the desert's dazzling beauty." -"Amid Uncertain Times, 11 New and Necessary Latino Books to Read," NBC News Latino, by Rigoberto González, Nov. 30, 2016 Emmy Pérez "sings the borderlands between America and Mexico, a contested land where identity and nationality are under constant surveillance. Her poetry forces the reader to feel the persons who live in those lands. In poems that follow the currents of the Rio Grande, she re-immerses readers in the waters where we all developed, fills our senses with the scent of blooming roses, of burning mesquite, and crashes us into the barriers erected to prevent the development of cross-border relationships. Reading Perez ignites the desire to experience the heat and the sere landscape, and generates anger at the destruction of all that flourishes there. Language can be so sexy. It turns me on, consonance." -"18 Best Poetry Books to Read Right Now," Signature, by Lorraine Berry, Sept. 29, 2017. "More than anything else, this collection is about documenting a place that most of white America only thinks about in terms of politics. It’s about describing the faces, the stones, the barrios, the lizards, the scrub plants, and, always, the river... This quiet insistence refuses to let this land and these people be ignored. While much of America might want to pretend it doesn’t exist, to build a literal wall on the border and a figurative wall around anyone perceived as different, Pérez will not allow it that dishonesty. This place of her home is real, and it contains both beauty and misery." -"Book Review With the River on Our Face," Fourth and Sycamore, David Nilsen, Jan. 24, 2017 "The imagery of the collection is especially strong in poems like 'The Valley Myth,' 'The Same Kind of Huecos,' and 'Downriver Rio Grande Ghazalion'... The most memorable and strongest section for this reader was Midriver—one of the more political ones that focuses on the immigration and US/Mexico border-region violence. On the whole, With the River on Our Face is authentic in the way it discusses the absurd politics that border dwellers are subjected to and immersed in daily. . . increased militarization is often anticipated, and immigrant seizures are a given. The collection is a strong addition to Southwestern regional literature." December Micro Reviews, Kenyon Review online. Dec, 2016 “Emmy Perez demonstrates her lyrical talents once again in her poetry collection, With the River on Our Face" -"Select 2016-17, Notable Latino Books" LatinoStories.com. "With the River on Our Face is a book that unites... By connecting humanity to the river and its life, Pérez creates a vision of peace and tranquility that leaves one feeling hopeful." -"Poetry guides reader to acknowledge what exists," El Paso Times, by Minerva Laveaga Luna, Oct. 8, 2016 "Pérez's poetry collection follows the Rio Grande River along the southwest. The physical text flows like the river along the pages as Pérez narrates her homage to the land that makes the borderlands visually stunning while also addressing darker issues that come with its history." -"Revolution in Mind: 10 Latinx Books to Read This Summer," Latinx Spaces, by Christina Miranda, June 15, 2017. "Stand-outs for me were the heart-wrenching epic 'Rio Grande~Bravo,' the sudden freedom of 'A woman like a city,' and the beautifully evocative title poem... A tumultuous outpouring that will water the roots of your soul and flood your mind." –"Highways and the River," The Monitor, by David Bowles, Aug. 26, 2016 "This book is a love song to those who live in the region and to the life-giving river that helps to sustain them, no matter which side they live on--people who are represented in the title as having a single collective face. The beauty of the volume is in the poems' transformation of a place that in many of our minds is a culturally desolate and barren battleground into one that is nourished by nature's idyllic magic and the transcendent possibilities generated from human compasssion found in the lives of those who are forced to live in circumstances that are anything but humane." –"Year's Best Reads 2016" Sacred Trespasses, by Reggie Scott Young, Dec. 9, 2016 "Pérez's writing is floating on the river and the river is in all of our bodies, imprinted on our very faces." -"Macondo Writers Workshop: From San Antonio to the World" Arts + Culture Texas, by John Pluecker, Oct. 6, 2016. "With the River on Our Face by Emmy Pérez is forcing me to rediscover my native Rio Grande Valley. What I love about this collection is its long, slow unraveling. And how startling hints of violence and pain seep out in the catalog of beautiful things like carrizo, long-billed thrashers, chapulines, and kiowa dancers.” -"Poetry Magazine Reading List: March 2017" by Rodney Gomez. "It is an honest voice, a voice worth reading and worthy of attention." "The Long Valley" Texas Books in Review, by Octavio Quintanilla. "Read These 25 Books for National Poetry Month" Chicago Review of Books, April 19, 2017, by Ruben Quesada. "Third Annual 2017 Summer Reading List" by READLatinoLit: Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club, June 27, 2017. "Latinx Books for the Next 100 Days and Beyond" Queen Mobs Teahouse, by Ruben Quesada, April 30, 2017. "Micro-Review of With the River on Our Face [of the poem 'El Paso~El Valle']." We Come from Everything series, Letras Latinas Blog, review by Sheryl Luna, March 19, 2017. "It is not a Drowning" We Come from Everything series, Letras Latinas Blog, by Rosebud Ben-Oni, March 3, 2017. |
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Work in Select Anthologies
what saves us: poems of empathy & outrage in the age of tru--, edited by martín espada, northwestern u press, 2019.
other musics: new latina poetry, edited by Cynthia Cruz, university of oklahoma press, 2019.
ghost fishing: an eco-justice poetry anthology, edited by melissa tuckey, university of georgia press, 2018.
orange county: a literary field guide edited by lisa alvarez & andrew tonkovich, heyday, feb. 2017.
entre guadalupe y malinche: tejanas in literature & art, edited by inés hernández-ávila & norma cantú, university of texas press, 2016.
new border voices: an anthology, edited by brandon d. shuler, robert johnson, & erika garza-johnson, texas a&m press, 2014.
a broken thing: poets on the line, edited by emily rosko & anton vander zee, university of iowa press, 2011.
the wind shifts: new latino poetry, edited by francisco aragón, university of arizona press, 2007.
other musics: new latina poetry, edited by Cynthia Cruz, university of oklahoma press, 2019.
ghost fishing: an eco-justice poetry anthology, edited by melissa tuckey, university of georgia press, 2018.
orange county: a literary field guide edited by lisa alvarez & andrew tonkovich, heyday, feb. 2017.
entre guadalupe y malinche: tejanas in literature & art, edited by inés hernández-ávila & norma cantú, university of texas press, 2016.
- -Review in Santa Fe New Mexican (mention)
- -Review in Lone Star Literary Life (mention)
new border voices: an anthology, edited by brandon d. shuler, robert johnson, & erika garza-johnson, texas a&m press, 2014.
a broken thing: poets on the line, edited by emily rosko & anton vander zee, university of iowa press, 2011.
the wind shifts: new latino poetry, edited by francisco aragón, university of arizona press, 2007.