Santa Tarantula (eBook, EPUB)

The poems in Santa Tarantula grant an urgent and haunting voice to the voiceless, explore ancient narratives, delve into Cuban history and identity, and confront trauma and violence.

Jordan Pérez explores the tension between fear and reprieve, between hopelessness and light, in her debut collection, Santa Tarantula, the tenth winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. Pérez lends voices to the forgotten: to the political dissidents, gay men, and religious minorities imprisoned in the forced-labor camps of 1960s Cuba; to biblical women who were deemed unworthy to name; to survivors of sexual violence who grapple with paralyzing fear and isolation.

With rich detail, these poems weave together the stories of those who go unheard with family memories, explore moments of unspeakable tragedy with glimpses of a life beyond the trauma, and draw out what it means to be vulnerable and the strength it takes to endure. Santa Tarantula pushes through the darkness, cataloging unspoken pain and multigenerational damage, and revealing that, sometimes, survival is in the telling.

Part 1. Smallmouth

Smallmouth

Twelve

Your Father Knew Many Women

The Masculinity Camps

Deadgirl

Knockout Rose

In This Story

Body

The Men

Mixed-Up Sestina

Tamar

Men Everywhere Are Setting Traps

A Desolate Woman

The Glory Has Departed

Letter to My Grandfather in April

Lot’s Daughter

Part 2. Dissent

O God of Cuba

Dissent

Santa Tarantula

Becoming Wild

Delilah

The Dream

Gomer

I Consider Violence

Jael

Wanting

New Study Say Men Who Do Dishes Are Less Likely to Kill You

Bathymetry

How to Be the Other Woman

The Woman with Wounded Hands

Chicken Heart

Crossing

Misplaced

Part 3. Gospel

Genesis

I Was Named for the River of Blessings

Upended

Pilgrimage

Asymptote

Theodore Roosevelt Island

Herding Tent Caterpillars

Rejoice

This Is What the Girl Really Wants

Things to Cling To

Liturgy

The Gospel According to the Girl

Acknowledgements

Jordan Pérez works professionally in online safety and childhood sexual abuse prevention. She has an MFA in creative writing from American University and has published poetry in Cutthroat, Poetry International, Mississippi Review, and more.