{"product_id":"tortillera-caridad-moro-gronlier-9781680032444","title":"Tortillera: Poems","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe TRP Southern Poetry Breakthrough Series: Florida\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The word tortillera means lesbian in Espal. The moniker is familiar to most Spanish speaking cultures, but especially particular to the Cuban experience. In most Cuban-American households to be called a tortillera (whether one is one or not) is the gravest of insults, the basest of adjectives, a cat call that whips through the air like a lash whose only intention is to wound, to scar. Many a first-generation, Cubanita (the ones who are into other girls, anyway) has suffered, denied, wailed over the loaded term, but in Caridad Moro-Gronlier's debut collection, \u003ci\u003eTortillera\u003c\/i\u003e, she not only applies the term to herself, she owns it, drapes it over her shoulders and heralds her truth through candid, unflinching poems that address the queer experience of coming out while Cuban. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The first half of the book immediately plunges the reader into the speaker's Cuban-American life on-the-hyphen through vivid, first person narratives that draw one in, making the reader privy to the moments that mold the speaker's experience: marginalization at a teacher-parent conference; the socioeconomic distinctions at assorted Quinceara celebrations; a walk down the aisle toward divorce amid a back drop of wedding registries and Phen-Phen fueled weight-loss; post-partum depression; a peek into a No-Tell motel that does tell of the affair she embarks upon with her first female lover; the agony of divorce vs. the headiness of sex and lust; the evolution of an identity in verse. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Part reckoning, part renewal, part redemption, part rebirth, the poems in \u003ci\u003eTortillera \u003c\/i\u003ecome clean, but more than that, they guide, reveal and examine larger considerations: the role of language on gender its subsequent roles, the heartrending consequences of compulsory heterosexuality, as well as the patriarchal stamp emblazoned on the Cuban diaspora. The work contained in \u003ci\u003eTortillera \u003c\/i\u003ebefits its audacious title--bold, original and utterly without shame. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cbr\u003e ... \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003efrom \u003c\/i\u003e\"Unpacking the Suitcase\"\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Once a year you watch West Side Story \u003cbr\u003e on the screen of your parents' 1974 Zenith \u003cbr\u003e and catch a glimpse of yourself on television. \u003cbr\u003e You are the first born gringa in the family. \u003cbr\u003e Your English is perfect, but you're not \u003cbr\u003e like your friends. You don't go to slumber parties \u003cbr\u003e or play-dates, you don't join the Brownies \u003cbr\u003e or take ballet, but once a year you get to \u003cbr\u003e live in Technicolor and root for the Sharks \u003cbr\u003e because they speak Spanish, too.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Caridad Moro-Gronlier\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1680032445\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781680032444\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Texas Review Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/29\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 118\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.30lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.20w x 0.40d","brand":"Caridad Moro-Gronlier","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44043989614847,"sku":"9781680032444","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_4a6caa73-ced5-47d2-875b-1a207ed1b480.jpg?v=1684970278","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/tortillera-caridad-moro-gronlier-9781680032444","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}