The poems in Noelia Cerna’s beautiful, debut poetry collection,
Las Piedrecitas
, sing. They sing in English and Spanish; they sing of her childhood and Nicaraguan heritage; they sing of brown bodies and immigrant hands thickened by work and struggle; they sing of hope and redemption and survival. Cerna’s poetry does not warble, it projects in an unflinching voice that tackles themes such as prescribed gender roles, addiction, domestic violence, familial estrangement and racism in a country where “whiteness requires you to fold to the point of breaking.” These poems proclaim their truth in an indignant chorus that refuses to fold, refuses to break, and refuses to stay silent for one more minute. — Caridad Moro-Gronlier, author of
Tortillera
and
Visionware