Cruel Fiction
Wendy Trevino


The magic of Wendy Trevino’s poetry collection amply named Cruel Fiction is its unmasking of cruel fictions in our routine treatment of injustices in the criminal justice system, popular culture, and race. Trevino’s poems consistently critique and expose contradictions of a capitalistic culture, revealing a fickle culture whose aim is to perpetuate the dominant value of financial gain regardless of the toll it takes. Take, for instance, the following lines of sonnet “2.” in the section titled “Popular Culture & Cruel Work” where Trevino writes about the greed associated with the music industry:
What the entertainment industry learned
From Buddy Holly, in the days after
The music died, is that there are few things
More lucrative than the untimely death           
Of a rising star . . . (44)
In Cruel Fiction, no topic is spared based on its perceived sacredness. Trevino scrutinizes beloved Latino figures such as Anzaldúa, Che, and Selena, to discuss oft ignored aspects of their positions and influences. Because Trevino is willing to honestly evaluate the roles of these figures who are repeatedly placed on pedestals within the Latinx culture and because Trevino does not exclude herself as a member of this culture and society, her bold critiques come off as profound. 
Cruel Fiction is an important collection of activist poetry deserving of a place in Ethnic Studies courses and literature classes alike. The collection is a statement on contemporary society, providing an implicit argument that explains how we find ourselves in this current political situation.  
Wendy Trevino has published chapbooks with Perfect Lovers Press, Commune Editions and Krupskaya Books. Brazilian no es una raza - a bilingual edition of the chapbook she published with Commune Editions - was published by the feminist Mexican press Enjambre Literario in July 2018. Cruel Fiction is her first book-length collection of poems.

Cruel Fiction is a publication by Commune Editions. Click here to purchase.
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Reviewed by
Melinda Zepeda
​6/1/2019
Melinda Zepeda has writing published or forthcoming in the anthologies ¡Basta! 100+ Latinas Against Gender Violence and Péinate: Hair Battles Between Latina Mothers & Daughters. She writes monthly for the online magazine Hispanecdotes. Her children’s manuscripts tentatively titled Diego Finds Spanish and Miss Papas Visits City Council are currently in review. 
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