MeXicana
Giving wings to an identity that is here to stay!
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In prolific poet Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl’s rich and resonant seventh poetry collection, MeXicana, we hear the voice of a powerful woman ambitiously exploring the complexities of cultural hybridity. Like a sixth sun triumphantly rising upon that liminal space where her Mexicana identity ends and her Xicana one begins, the speaker proudly claims herself and all her magnificent multitudes in eventful poetic affirmation.
From a question Xochiquetzalcóatl asks in her short but punchy preface, emerges the pervasive theme of her collection: “Done se pinta la raya?” In poem after poem, across all eight chapters, the matter of where to draw the line takes on multiple meanings, shedding light on the vast cultural, social, political, psychological and sexual terrains that negotiate borders and boundaries. The poem “El tlatoani,” in section seven, presents a powerful genesis narrative, drumming into readers the weight of sacrifices made—of the lost language, people and land—that births the MeXicana experience. The collection unfolds like a survival story, a heart that never stopped beating, “nunca ha dejado de palpitar,” reclaiming what was lost in the name of Mexican legacy that “jamás lo han podido quebrar.” With unbreakable love for everything MeXicana, in verse that glows with divine feminine might, medicinal Native humor and delightful playfulness, we hear the speaker either draw the line, or defy the line, setting limits and asserting sovereignty of language, land and body. |
Poems, like “Este amor nopalero,” robust with clever rhythmic cadence and rhymes, is most definitely meant to be performed aloud! Through sound and cultural references, MeXicana also delivers valuable messages on issues such as body positivity and sexuality, crushing Eurocentric beauty standards and challenging stereotypical portrayals of Mexican American women in the media, and elsewhere.
Braided together with words of admiration, recognition, solidarity and support, much of this collection reads like an impassioned battle call to women. In Xochiquetzalcóatl’s poetry, we hear cries and anthems, together with Goddess hymns. Poems like “Coyolxauhqui” overflow with an Indigenous ethos of the divine feminine, championing the sacredness of all women: “Rise up my sisters / Somos hijas de la luna / The daughters of Coyolxauhqui / Casted to the shadows / Forgetting we are light.” While others, like “La Llorona,” invite readers to exercise compassion, “Te invito a ahogar tu dolor, llorona, en el agua juntito al mío,” recontextualizing familiar Mexican legends.
This collection follows in the footsteps of Mexican literary trailblazer, Rosario Castellanos Figueroa, to whom Xochitqutzatcóatl connects all MeXicanas, in the poem “On One Occasion”: “Confronted. / Combated. / Exhausted. . . But on more than one occasion, we have all been her.” The poems unmistakably enter into dialogue with women across time who either lived—or are currently living through—similar experiences.
Diosa X deftly layers tension between erotic passion and abandonment throughout the collection, speaking to patriarchal demands in poetic roars. Mixing assertive condescension with her characteristic humor, she births necessary messages on autonomy and self-determination—not only to herself and other women, but to nations, through spontaneous double entendre.
In “Las plegarias,” the last poem in section seven, the speaker tosses out the ways of marianismo, of “old school women” and colonized femininity, addressing Santa María, on her knees “que nunca se me olvide que soy mujer completa / y que no vengo de ninguna costilla…” and while praying for future generations “haz que recuerden todititas las niñas que son unas Diosas divinas.” This is, arguably, the collection’s climactic message—that all girls be rooted in their own inestimable worth, their own sacredness.
In the eighth and last section, titled Deuces, we hear the speaker move confidently into the future, into the heart of Mexico and her own MeXicana identity, whether “born in el Norte, in a land that’s been mine for many generations” or not: “espiral, espiral / hacia el centro del nahual / ombligo de mi universo / y total humanidad.”
At once celebrating both Mexicana and Xicana heritage, with uncompromising and unapologetic verse, this collection gains ground in the fight for the rights of women, as well as for the speaker’s right—as representative of all MeXicanas—to move and live freely on ancestral lands.
MeXicana promises to be the egg from which a whole new generation of reclaimed Diosas will hatch, collectively asserting legitimate and spiritual claims to their own bodies, their sexuality, their Indigenous heritage and their ancestral lands, during a time of political upheaval in which their presence is most needed. For not only does Diosa Xochiquetzatcóatl's new collection significantly inhabit the nest of Chicana feminist literature, but it also claims a timely presence upon the greater American Literature Landscape. ¡Que vivan las MeXicanas!
Braided together with words of admiration, recognition, solidarity and support, much of this collection reads like an impassioned battle call to women. In Xochiquetzalcóatl’s poetry, we hear cries and anthems, together with Goddess hymns. Poems like “Coyolxauhqui” overflow with an Indigenous ethos of the divine feminine, championing the sacredness of all women: “Rise up my sisters / Somos hijas de la luna / The daughters of Coyolxauhqui / Casted to the shadows / Forgetting we are light.” While others, like “La Llorona,” invite readers to exercise compassion, “Te invito a ahogar tu dolor, llorona, en el agua juntito al mío,” recontextualizing familiar Mexican legends.
This collection follows in the footsteps of Mexican literary trailblazer, Rosario Castellanos Figueroa, to whom Xochitqutzatcóatl connects all MeXicanas, in the poem “On One Occasion”: “Confronted. / Combated. / Exhausted. . . But on more than one occasion, we have all been her.” The poems unmistakably enter into dialogue with women across time who either lived—or are currently living through—similar experiences.
Diosa X deftly layers tension between erotic passion and abandonment throughout the collection, speaking to patriarchal demands in poetic roars. Mixing assertive condescension with her characteristic humor, she births necessary messages on autonomy and self-determination—not only to herself and other women, but to nations, through spontaneous double entendre.
In “Las plegarias,” the last poem in section seven, the speaker tosses out the ways of marianismo, of “old school women” and colonized femininity, addressing Santa María, on her knees “que nunca se me olvide que soy mujer completa / y que no vengo de ninguna costilla…” and while praying for future generations “haz que recuerden todititas las niñas que son unas Diosas divinas.” This is, arguably, the collection’s climactic message—that all girls be rooted in their own inestimable worth, their own sacredness.
In the eighth and last section, titled Deuces, we hear the speaker move confidently into the future, into the heart of Mexico and her own MeXicana identity, whether “born in el Norte, in a land that’s been mine for many generations” or not: “espiral, espiral / hacia el centro del nahual / ombligo de mi universo / y total humanidad.”
At once celebrating both Mexicana and Xicana heritage, with uncompromising and unapologetic verse, this collection gains ground in the fight for the rights of women, as well as for the speaker’s right—as representative of all MeXicanas—to move and live freely on ancestral lands.
MeXicana promises to be the egg from which a whole new generation of reclaimed Diosas will hatch, collectively asserting legitimate and spiritual claims to their own bodies, their sexuality, their Indigenous heritage and their ancestral lands, during a time of political upheaval in which their presence is most needed. For not only does Diosa Xochiquetzatcóatl's new collection significantly inhabit the nest of Chicana feminist literature, but it also claims a timely presence upon the greater American Literature Landscape. ¡Que vivan las MeXicanas!
Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl is a spoken word poetiza and seasoned language arts educator with a B.A. in English and M.Ed. in Cross-Cultural Teaching who has been published on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border and Brazil. Diosa X is the author of seven poetry collections and one chapbook, with more still to come. Learn more about her at www.diosax.net.
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