Maria Melendez

photo from Poetry Society of America Website
Maria Melendez

Bio: Maria Melendez was born in the US and grew up in the Bay Area of San Francisco.  She taught for 5 years in K-12, then taught Creative Writing and American literature at Saint Mary’s of Notre Dame and Utah State University.  SHe is a contributing editor for Latino Poetry Review and acquiring editor at Momotombo Press.  She was also the founding editor of Swan Scythe Press.  She recently became editor/publisher for Pilgrimage Magazine.  She lives in Pueblo, Colorado.  

Her Poetry:  Ms. Melendez’s poetry features some feminist influence.  Common themes of her poetry include feminism, love, pain, and death.  It is written in free verse form, with no rhyme scheme.  It is written in an abstract, stream of consciousness-like form which adds to the raw, emotional feeling of the poetry.  It is filled with vivid imagery, similes, and metaphors.  She uses some Spanish words, but mostly English. She has a few references to heritage, such as a Mayan god in “Tonacacihuatl: Lady of Our Flesh” and gender expectations in “Nude Sonnet”. Her references are a means of revealing the speakers Latino voice.

Ms. Melendez’s poetry serves to depict some of the awful things that take place in the world, and portray them in a raw, emotional manner.  Her work bridges a gap between the things we see in everyday life and some of the horrible things that happen. In doing this, she also depicts raw pain and emotion that are relatable to any human being.

“Nude Sonnet”

-Starts with imagery of she viewing her lover, then moves on to her thought processes of exploring love and relationships.
-Explores gender differences and expectations
-Borders-between expectations and reality of gender relations
-Bridge-between genders/lovers.
-Style-Prose, no rhyme scheme, interesting indentation, run-on sentences, stream of consciousness

Books:

Base Pairs. Swan Scythe Press, 2001. Print.

How Long She’ll Last in This World. Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 2006. Print.

Flexible Bones. Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 2010. Print.


Bibliography (also good sources for further research):

Aragon, Francisco, ed. The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry. Tucson, AZ: Univ. of Arizona

Press, 2007.

Melendez, Maria. Maria Melendez. Poetry Society of America. Web. January 28, 2013.

<http://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/poetry/crossroads/qa_american_poetry/page_59/>