Adela Najarro
Adela Najarro is a poet with a social consciousness who serves on the board of directors for Círculo de Poetas and Writers and works with the Latinx community nationwide, promoting the intersection of creative writing and social justice. The Letras Latinas/ Red Hen Collaborative selected Variations in Blue for publication in 2025. She is the author of four additional poetry collections: Split Geography, Twice Told Over, My Childrens, and Volcanic Interruptions.
Her extended family left Nicaragua and arrived in San Francisco during the 1940s; after the fall of the Somoza regime, the last of the family settled in the Los Angeles area. The California Arts Council has recognized her as an established artist for the Central California Region and appointed her as an Individual Artist Fellow. More at www.adelanajarro.com.
Volcanic Poetics
After iguanas ran off with the sun,
after pericos emerged violently squawking,
after soldiers left
bullet holes and torn mattresses
and the dictator collected
music boxes and skulls,
a song rose from the stink
of a river festering yellow mud
where one eye of a crocodile
watched you, I, we, todos
break bones, break bodies.
I want to tell you about after,
how bones knit, courage rises,
and we stave off despair.
Once in that country filled with mango trees,
where sharks live in fresh water,
where monkeys are kept on leashes,
where the ice cream is salty,
el ministro de Cultura issued
a call to language
as action, a call to write poems
about ordinary objects
and Exteriorismo began stirring
a pot of beans, adding
oil and then left over rice,
to make gallo pinto. A plain dish
that Danny likes, a child, our child,
here in the States with Nica blood.
[STANZA BREAK]
Poems are his legacy,
along with a lava-filled past
that percolated a revolution
of sound, vida, y ranas,
ranitas, little froggies on a farm
on the road to Momotombo.
My mother’s words
explode volcanic vowels.
¡Ay! ¡Cómo queman!
The slow burn down
the side of a mountain
with its top blown off.
Nature on fire. Poetry
a living thing.
From Variations in Blue, Red Hen Press, 2025
After Years in the States
Managua lingers in the kitchen
like the smell of an overripe orange
at the bottom of a fruit bowl.
My mother sits at a table.
Then gets up. Creaky fingers
pour kibble into a cat bowl.
Mami—why didn’t you ever go back?
We all went away from the sun.
The water was too salty and the crustaceans
died. Flames flickered in the Masaya crater
but we couldn’t climb the steep slope.
They looked under our beds and in closets.
They found nothing. Took everything.
M’ija—What was there to go back for?
Spanish sticks to the roof of my mouth
and a perico’s tongue squawks too loud.
From Variations in Blue, Red Hen Press, 2025
Reflection Questions:
What do these poems share as far as some of the reasons people immigrate to the U.S.?
what do you know about Nicaraguan history, including the Sandinistas, the Contras, and more recent developments with President Ortega?
How do U.S. policies impact other countries?
Zero Tolerance
somebody always knows exactly what to do
beginning in the 15th century Scold’s bridle
a woman’s head inside a cage
crisscrossed iron bands attached to a plate
in front of her mouth
a bit of metal between her lips
her tongue held down
problem solved no more gossip no more
scolding for a goodman’s wife in a bridle
like a horse like a mule like
something to be ridden
And the words alliterate with sound
shackles stocks crimps and locks
muzzles spikes and lashes
somebody had to do it somebody thought it up
somebody always knows exactly what to do
a loop for a chain a loop for a lock a lock
for a body behind a chain link fence
problem solved crisscrossed hands zip tied closed
a child a child
bites her lip bites her tongue
her tongue held down
the taste of metal and salt
and more men women and children in chain link cages
horses mules ridden into the ground
And the words illiterate with sound
zip ties shackles crimps and locks
handcuffs belly chains
Somebody had to do it Somebody figured it out
Published in Latino Book Review, 2025.
Reflection Questions:
What does the term "zero tolerance"
mean in science? In schools? At the workplace?
What past eras does the imagery evoke?
Who defines the rules and the penalties for breaking them?
What emotions do the images in this poem spark for you?