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{"id":1670,"date":"2019-07-07T09:45:45","date_gmt":"2019-07-07T09:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/?p=1670"},"modified":"2019-07-07T09:45:57","modified_gmt":"2019-07-07T09:45:57","slug":"lone-star-review-virginx-natalia-trevino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/?p=1670&lang=ar","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star Review: VirginX by Natalia Trevi\u00f1o"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elo\u00edsa P\u00e9rez-Lozano reviews VirginX<\/em>, the second poetry collection from <\/span><\/span>Natalia Trevi\u00f1<\/span><\/span>o<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Weaving together in-depth research and her own personal experiences in English and Spanish, <\/span><\/span>Natalia Trevi\u00f1<\/span>o<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u2019s chapbook, <\/span><\/span>VirginX<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/a> <\/em>(Finishing Line Press, 2018), is an exploration of La Virgen, her history, her numerous names, and the ways she is present to the author and so many others on either side of the border and all over the world.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Like the stars on the ocean-blue robes frequently referenced by Trevi\u00f1<\/span><\/span>o, each poem shines brightly on its own with vivid imagery that takes you right into the heart of a moment in time. Whether it\u2019s the juxtaposition of a horrific plane crash intended to hurt \u201cchildren having lunch and supplicants in prayer,\u201d or when she seamlessly bridges the image of the constellations in Maria\u2019s robe with the tender act of her mother feeding her \u201cbeams of human light,\u201d Trevi\u00f1<\/span><\/span>o\u2019s words invite you to contemplate the pictures she has so brilliantly painted within every poem. And yet, the poems also speak to each other within the collection in a way that threatens to \u201crush us, our tumbling bodies powerless\u201d in the commanding waves of Trevi\u00f1<\/span><\/span>o\u2019s combination of research, reverence, and revelations.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In a poem imagining Mary\u2019s mother tending to her baby, Trevi\u00f1<\/span><\/span>o offers a warm and moving depiction of a woman who is barely mentioned in Biblical history: She warms water with her hands before using it to remove \u201cthe grit collected\/between [Mary\u2019s] fingers\u2026before it touched [her] because cold made [her]\/cry,\u201d a simple yet relatable act of love that will touch the hearts of many mothers who keep their children\u2019s comfort in mind. Even more powerful are the lines that follow, which tell of the overwhelming and all-consuming flood of feeling that Mary\u2019s mother experiences when she realizes \u201c[her daughter\u2019s] weight\/[is] outside of her body,\u201d a gripping reminder of how entwined mother and baby are in the beginning. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Trevi\u00f1<\/span><\/span>o is also a master of interlacing separate thoughts through a single theme into a gorgeous narrative tapestry. In one of her long poems, she exquisitely ties together multiple threads: Maria is the mother of all regardless of man-made borders, the miracles found on the migrant journey, how her border crossings differ from those of the undocumented, and how the fact that she had papers didn\u2019t matter to school bullies who called her a name that made her want to \u201cdry [her] back after [her] shower \u2026 because somehow [her] back\/stayed wet all day long.\u201d This incredible skill allows the poems, mostly in couplet form, to dance and breathe and move forward with every page. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Just like Trevi\u00f1<\/span><\/span>o has crafted this collection with care by clearly doing the research and digging into her mental mines for memories, Mexican migrants seek the same kind of care and vigilance from La Virgen in order to survive as they make their arduous journey north across the border. In addition to the clothes on their back, food, and water, they keep Maria close in the form of a prayer card or statue, because after all, she travels \u201cas miracles do, without papers.\u201d She is a symbol of hope and love that knows no borders and is called by a multitude of names, a precious few listed in one of the sections of the long poem, \u201cCoatlicue, Queen of Heaven and Earth.\u201d During this eloquent tribute, Trevi\u00f1<\/span><\/span>o also draws a beautiful comparison between Mary\u2019s infinite identities and dandelion seeds that \u201ccontain the whole and the fraction of [her],\u201d that drift anywhere and everywhere, so many names for the same soul, la misma Maria.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Whether you are a person of faith or not, Trevi\u00f1<\/span><\/span>o\u2019s work will invite you into a space of peace to contemplate its many meanings waiting to be discovered.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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