What They Leave Behind

What They Leave Behind is a collection of over 50 Latinx poets whose work bridges past and present to embody a new reality that celebrates the diaspora and all its complexities. Whether it’s through reclaiming language and learning to roll the r’s in our words, or by tracing the lineage from mother to daughter through bowls of masa and dirt, these poems serve the strongest cup of café con leche and demand we see ourselves as proud remnants of strawberry pickers, lotería players, hood healers, barrio prophets, and dreamers. They are the voices of a people always revising the definition of homeland and belonging who use storytelling as sustenance for survival. These poets of varied ages, nationalities, genders, sexualities, and poetic preferences use all that was left behind adding their own dose of empathy, outrage, ecstasy, and agony to alchemize each new day. They bear witness, testify, whisper, and shout, demanding not only to be heard but to be given the space to thrive. This anthology traces an infinite poetic line between where we came from and who we are while making a passionate call for justice, reclaiming traditions, and reconciliation as healing, not only for those who made it but also for those who didn’t, and continue to signal What They Leave Behind. -Peggy Robles-Alvarado