Welcome to the November edition of Blue Heron Speaks! Our featured poet this month is Olga García Echeverría, author of Falling Angeles: Cuentos y Poemas and the self-published chapbook Lovely Little Creatures. She is also a contributor to the anthology, Imaniman: Poets Writing in The Anzaldúan Borderlands. Olga shares with us stories of family and friendship with the rich, vivid details of tantalizing foods and the taste of freedom on one’s tongue, “baked camote smothered / in butter, cinnamon, and melted / piloncillo—the toughest brown sugar in the world.” These are poems of close bonds and relentless joy. They are poetic prayers for what binds us together in life. These images leave us with the belief that happiness is within our grasp, if we run and catch up with it, “… we ran / recklessly along the shore, our shrieks and cackles / permeating the sea.”

We are blessed to have Olga’s words grace these pages. Visit the Blue Heron Speaks page of our website, to read 3 poems by this gifted writer, and to learn more about her work.

(photo credit: Maritza Alvarez)

Olga García Echeverría is the author of Falling Angeles: Cuentos y Poemas, the self-published chapbook Lovely Little Creatures, and is a contributor to the anthology, Imaniman: Poets Writing in The Anzaldúan Borderlands. Her work is found in numerous literary spaces including Lavandería: A Mixed Load of Women, Wash and Words; The Sun; and Telling Tongues: A Latinx Anthology on Language. She has been an educator for over 20 years and is a Touching Lives Fellow, awarded by A Room of Her Own Foundation (AROHO) to women writers and artists who have made significant long-term contributions to students and teaching. García Echeverría holds a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from UC Santa Cruz, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Texas in El Paso, and an honorary degree in Code-switching from the Universidad Autónoma de Lenguas Desbordadas.