'New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023' features over 200 works reflecting the uniqueness of the state

“New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023” is a hefty volume. It has the weight of a college textbook and the size of a gift that resides on a coffee table.

Don’t be overwhelmed or discouraged. The poems are approachable reads. They can be enjoyed in brief, bite-sized readings or in longer sittings. Read them silently or aloud.

Levi Romero and Michelle Otero, the editors, compiled the poems for the anthology. The compilation, Romero said, was one of his duties as the state’s inaugural poet laureate.

“I’ve edited and co-edited publications before. I asked Michelle to be the co-editor. I knew she’d be a great collaborator. She was familiar with New Mexico’s poetry, having taught writing workshops and having been an Albuquerque Poet Laureate,” Romero said.

“I really wanted it to be an inclusive volume.”

The New Mexico State Library and the state Department of Cultural Affairs put out a call for submissions and spread the word on Facebook, he said.

“It was a blind submission process. Michelle and I didn’t know who the submitting poets were. … We read for content and then looked to see how they fit into the different themes.”

The editors divided the volume into 11 themes that reflect the uniqueness of New Mexico. The themes are community, culture, family, history, identity, landscape, nature, people, querencia (homeland), spirituality and water.

Romero and Otero said they discussed each of the more than 700 poems submitted, both those selected and those not.

More than 200 poets are included.

“We did not have a set number of poems (for inclusion) in mind,” Otero wrote in an email.

“We knew we wanted broad representation across geography, communities, age, experience and theme, with the common thread being a connection to this place we love. We were fortunate that the Museum of New Mexico Press worked to make space for all the poems we wanted to include.”

One reason for the volume’s accessibility for the reader is its organization by themes.

Another reason is its manageability. Many poems fit on a single page. None is of epic length as, say, Homer’s “Odyssey.”

A third reason is the realism and simplicity of the poetry.

Examples:

From James McGrath’s poem “Where Do You Live?”: “There are shards of prehistoric pottery/where I have planted corn and squash./There is a hand-smithed hoe/caught in the spread of an apple tree.”

From Maria C. Lopez’s poem “Sweet Bread and Coffee”: “Our home was so simple but full and deep/These memories all fill me with great sentiment/And with great pride I will recount it for you.” (The poem is printed in Spanish on the facing page.)

From Sylvia Ramos Cruz’s poem “Black Place” (after a series of paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe): “She drove alone into this place touching heaven/year after year for 40 years. Black Ford crammed/with painting and camping gear.”

From Alfredo Celedón Luján’s poem “Soft Touch”: “I don’t know how to read/nor write right, ese./I’m a ‘go fer.’ ”

From Melanie Lamb Faithful’s poem “Rules for Pulling Weeds”: “Don’t pull from the top/listen for that satisfying pop sound/don’t over-pull, or you’ll leave the roots behind.”

From Nora Naranjo Morse’s poem “My Father’s Feet: “It would begin in the early morning,/on any given day./His feet hit the floor with such definite purpose.”

From Mary Oertel-Kirschner’s “The Roadrunner”: “She’s preening on the patio,/picking, picking at her chest feathers.”

From Theodore Greer’s “The Buffalo Dance”: “Buffalo Dancers hairy connectors/to the spirit world/Horns on high then dipped,/Heaven and earth/Connected once more.”

In the book’s preface the editors affirm, “No one voice is more important than another. In these pages you will find published poets alongside your next-door neighbors, census workers, poets laureate, teachers, senators, high school students, professors, healthcare workers, doctors, and spoken-word artists, all revealing something of themselves that can only be felt through poetry.”