The Library is Open

Were they happy in any real way, whatever real is, those first pioneers?

–Carl Phillips, And Across Our Faces

The desire to represent human plurality is at the heart of the American experience. Poetry can enlarge our view of the world and our understanding of each other. It is an ethical imperative to be inclusive and create a culture of belonging. LGBTQIA+ Latinx poets are still far underrepresented. Poetry has been a catalyst for representing marginalized people. Poetry can build a space for marginalized experiences. We live in a world of heightened empiricism, and our ability to share experiences fortifies people who tune in. Editors, like writers, build an experience for the reader through the editing and arrangement of creative work. Literary publications have to potential to establish a decorum for language and literature. The ability to publish and read has currency as we know about our nation, one of the only industrialized nations whose history includes restricting the ability of non-white people to read, among other atrocities. Who gets to create the narrative, the mythology about the people and the world around us? To be included in these expressions, to belong is permission-giving.

The intersection of history, language, and the human experience is the heart of the poetic experience. Written by the largest ethnic and racial community in the United States since the immigrant population growth from Europe during the first half of the Twentieth Century, the poems in this folio leaven our imagination and serve as a record of a life lived. A people's history and language are integral to a poem's imagination and composition. These poets simultaneously offer an escape from self-consciousness through emotion and storytelling to guide readers. These poets are vastly documenting the (Latin) American experience. This unique folio reveals the confession of a new age.