Affrilachian Poets

Introduction
"The Hills We Grew On" by Jeremy Paden
"On Whiteness" by Jeremy Paden

Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. For sixty-nine days in 2010 the world held its collective breath while thirty-three men were trapped deep in a copper mine in Chile. The story of their survival and rescue is by now well-known, but through the poetry and imagination of Jeremy Paden the intimate humanity of this modern-day resurrection is rendered with exquisite feeling for the miners below and their loved ones above. Many of the individual miners appear here in poems inspired by their specific stories. But as suggested by the title, (a term coined by Pliny to describe Roman hydraulic gold mining and its effect on the land) this is also a meditation on our relationship to our planet.

"Tecuichpotzin" by Jeremy Paden

First Prize Winner of the Children and Young Adult Award Premio Campoy-Ada for 2020 in the Category Picture Book of Special Cultural ContentBilingual Edition (English and Spanish)First Prize Winner of the Children and Young Adult Award Premio Campoy-Ada for 2020 in the Category Picture Book of Special Cultural ContentBilingual Edition (English and Spanish)First Prize Winner of the Children and Young Adult Award Premio Campoy-Ada for 2020 in the Category Picture Book of Special Cultural ContentBilingual Edition (English and Spanish)"Precious things are worth a thousand-mile walk, Mija?" Las cosas precioas valen una caminata de mil millas, mija?" from Under the Ocelot SunSpoken by a mother to her small daughter as they are detained at a border wall, Under the Ocelot Sun is a powerful account of refugees' plight. The mother speaks of the beauty of their Honduran homeland and of her abuela's wisdom. She also touches on the violent forces they are fleeing. She wants her little one to know her heritage and why they have taken this perilous journey. Lyrically told (in English and Spanish) and vibrantly illustrated, this is a picture book for our time. George Ella Lyon, Kentucky Poet Laureate 2015-2016About the title: The Ocelot Sun refers to the Nahua creation myth of the Five Suns. Each sun corresponds to an age, or a creation event. The Nahui-Ocelotl is the first sun, or first creation event. At that time, the world was ruled by giants and the gods sent ocelots or jaguars to destroy the earth and start again. Under the Ocelot Sun is a story of hope and survival in times of trouble.