a poem by rio cortez

Work Song of the Ballad-Hunter


[Dobie Red] still managed to demonstrate an evocative field holler for the recording equipment
-Ted Gioia

You steal my clothes and try to say they yo's
-Mos Def



I want to take things
without asking
your body your name
then I want to take the sound
your body makes
and make that sound too

I wake up in a house
next to the field
I follow the field holler
I find the field hollerer
I cut the holler from his throat
I swallow it
I try to holler too


Rio Cortez is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, where she was the recipient of the Lucy Grealy Prize in Poetry. She is currently an MFA candidate at New York University. Her work has appeared in Dark Phrases, Through the Looking Glass & upcoming in Tidal Basin Review. Rio loves & lives in Queens, NY.

o my darlin

It's was really exciting to edit the latest edition of Clementine (an online journal of poetry and photography) with Becca. I love and admire all of the poets represented.

The issue features five previously unpublished poems by Tim Dlugos, whose collected poems, A Fast Life (edited by David Trinidad) is due from Nightboat Books in 2011. There are also three previously unpublished poems by Karl Tierney. A poet whose work I discovered in the excellent anthology Persistent Voices: An Anthology of Poets Lost to AIDS.

As always, we tried to represent many different voices. There are two great poems inspired by Curtis Mayfield by Rio Cortez. A Showgirls sestina by Jeffery Conway. Persona poems concerning Amy Winehouse by Kerri French. The subjects of the poems range from Vladmir Putin to video games.

All of the poems--by Jerome Murphy, Sarah Stickney, Charles Jensen, Matthew Hittinger, Jeffrey Allen, Michael Comstock, William Wright, Jenn Blair, Joe Eldridge, Nathan Vulgamott and Steve Westbrook--are smart and refreshing.

I am crazy about the Barbie photos of Russ Pedro and Brian Brown's evocative shots of rural Georgia.

Clementine is interested primarily in the idea of the persona, but we are rather loose with what we consider a "persona poem." Some in the issue are more literal about this than others. Becca and I are proud of what we put together and so happy to share the work of these artists.

the last days of summer reading

Yes it's the first of September and summer is coming to a close. I feel like I've read a lot of really great books this season. Here were some of my favorites:

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas

A simple premise: a lazy Australian suburban barbecue is jolted when a man hits a child who isn't his own. Tsiolkas delves into different lives of those affected by the incident. His writing vividly captures contemporary suburbanites from a 71 year old man to a young gay teen. I found it completely engrossing and really admired his style.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

I have been a fan of Lahiri's work since Interpreter of the Maladies and her new collection took my breath away. I love the way she builds a story so carefully and intricately.

Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead

Divine! Rio at Le Chic Batik lended this to me and I absolutely adored it. An episodic, funny and poignant coming of age tale set in middle/upper class African American enclave of Long Island's Sag Harbor. So many great 1980s references (New Coke, scoring tix to Lisa Lisa and U.T.F.O.). The first book I've read in a while where the author seems to have had a joyous time writing.

Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez

When a young boy's parents die in a flu pandemic, he is adopted by evangelical Christians in rural Indiana. Nunez not only gives a chilling and realistic portrayal of what would happen to America if an epidemic like this occurred, but focuses in on the emotional trauma of her characters. Deliberately paced and mostly told in flashback in the beginning, this book really surprised me with its powerful portrait of our fragile and divided country.

Some others I loved ...

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

The Surf Guru by Doug Dorst

Jack Kerouac's On the Road

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

Colm Toibin's Brooklyn

Mary Karr's memoirs Cherry and The Liars' Club

You Lost Me There by Rosencrans Baldwin

A Sun for the Dying by Jean Claude-Izzo.

What were some of your favorite reads this summer? Please share!

structural damage

Structural Damage

Sunday and I sit at my parents’ window
watching the mormons walk home from church
As the ward empties itself onto our sun-sick street
I think I see our ceiling flaking onto the carpet
Bits of sheetrock snow peel apart and drift through the air,
my own winter holiday, always, what would the mormons think
The paint unstrips from the beams,
still behind are boughs of dry wood,
white wall battering the floor
What if this house pulls apart like a loose thread
what now as the wood beams break

-Rio Cortez


Rio Cortez is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, where she was the recipient of the Lucy Grealy Prize in Poetry. She has plans to attend the MFA program at New York University in the fall. Her work has been published in Dark Phrases, Through the Looking Glass & Catharsis Literary Magazine. Rio hates plane crashes and cuts in subway service, she loves and lives in Queens, NY.

more more more fashion week favorites

Marc by Marc - There were so many fun ones.

Rio at le chic batik offers up a review.

Nanette Lepore

Alexandre Herchcovitch's colorful, futebol-inspired collection.

tired things

What's wrong with Harper's Bazaar Naomi Campbell photo spread? Rio at le chic batik breaks it down.

Prof Susurro shows link love.

Le Chic Batik is also featured in Jezebel in an insightful post on race in the fashion industry.