Controlled Decay

“This first collection marks a new mind terrain, radical tempos, and wild-style tropes in Latina Letters and all poetry today—breaks through with incredible caliber and impossible power. She is Hegel and Kahlo, Serpent and Zen, Cantina blade and Zapatista jungle.” —Juan Felipe Herrera, author of 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border

Controlled Decay, Gabriela Jauregui’s debut poetry collection, is animated by a rich sense of language’s polyglot permeability, which she uses to explore the interpenetration of manifold cultural spaces, from the sublime to the grotesque. Beautiful and wounding moments manifest in her unique lyrical and political engagement with the world.

These poems emerge from points of connection and slippage where present and past, human and animal, converge. They range across a stunning variety of poetic landscapes and voices: from a dance hall in East Los Angeles to a steam bath in Morocco; from the author’s native Mexico City subway system to the intimacy of a grave; from a guerrilla army commander’s voice to that of a poet who is self-conscious of the weighty lineage she inherits. Jauregui pushes the boundaries of form and language: We find short puzzle-like metaphysical poems that resonate deeply, and also longer rhythmic ones that break open narrative. In all her poems, Jauregui’s watchful street savvy and sensual attention to words incorporate her responses to the world that surrounds us and give palpable form to the pirates, birds, dancers, witches, and mothers who come to life in her work.