'Migration is inevitable': Marcelo Hernández Castillo at Letras Latinas

As we mentioned in December, twenty non-profit organizations have formed a poetry coalition whose aim is to promote poetry in the culture. The first issue to be addressed: Migration. Yesterday at Letras Latinas, Francisco Aragón and Barbara Curiel announced the first initiative of the coalition. They write: "During the month of March, coalition members CantoMundo and Letras Latinas are partnering to present posts by CM fellows that will include essays, creative non-fiction, micro reviews and dialogues between writers. This year’s theme borrows a line from U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera’s poem, 'Borderbus.' Please return to this space and enjoy all the pieces in the series, and leave comments to participate in the dialogue." The first CantoMundo fellow to lend his voice is Marcelo Hernández Castillo, who writes movingly about his and his family's experience with migration as it intersects his life as a poet. We'll take it from the top and let you head to Letras Latinas to read the entire piece:

While my mother was being held in an ICE detention center, a man committed suicide by stuffing a sock down his throat. She told me she couldn’t sleep for three days because she worried she would miss the guards calling her name. Everyone slept on the floor. I didn’t write anything in my journal that day.

Migration is inevitable. To move from one place to another, whether out of force or free will, is inevitable. So too is poetry. It is impossible to stop running away from something, or toward something—to be less or more lonely.

I read a line by a Mexican poet named Mariana Rodriguez Espinoza whom I met in Mexico City. It goes: Admiro a Jenni Rivera porque es madre y es como una mujer que a pesar de todo lo que le pasaba lo superaba y era como mucha hembra. Si la conociera le diría eres de poca madre.

When I think of Jenni Rivera I think about mujeres de poca madre. I think about the space she carved for herself in the masculine world of Música Regional. Her song, “Los Ovarios,” opens with “Que alboroto traen conmigo / como les está calando / en el negocio de grandes / la señora está rifando…” It’s basically how Beyoncé opens “Formation” with: “Ya’ll haters corny with that illuminati mess / Paparazzi catch my fly and my cocky fresh / I’m so reckless when I rock my Givenchy dress. Stylin.”

Sometimes I drink too much and want to call someone and apologize. Walking away has always made sense to me.

I wonder what went through that man’s head as he rolled up his own sock and filled what empty spaces were left in his throat? Sometimes it’s just too late to change your mind. I wonder if they let him be buried in the US, with his family. Such a small desire: to move.

Be sure to check back with Letras Latinas for more essays by CantoMundo fellows.