Books published by FlowerSong Press

alurista, the proto-poet laureate of Aztlan whose enigmatic nom de plume has long been synonymous with Chicano poetry, returns with a pristine and rarefied homecoming coda. ZAZ (in Cal├│: "bam!" or "right on!"), recalls classic Spik in Glyph? multi-dimensional sonic, phonetic and textual word play burnished by astonishing and unapologetic interlingual English, Spanish, Nahuatl and Cal├│ hybridity. The spare and resonant verse gathered in this arresting volume speaks to the mundane, the profane and the esoteric simultaneously. At once ceremonial prayer chants and oracular pronouncements, the poems shimmer yet remained anchored by a welcome formal purity. This collection brings the internationally acclaimed alurista-a leading voice at the historic, first-ever Festival de Flor y Canto (USC, 1973)-home as well to a dynamic new imprint named in honor of that venerated floricanto ("flower-song" from the Nahuatl) tradition. 

Sonia Gutiérrez''s Dreaming with Mariposas, written in a Tomás Rivera and Sandra Cisneros bildungsroman vignette style, recounts the story of the Martínez family as told through the eyes of transfronteriza/transboundary Sofía Martínez, "Chofi," Francisco and Helena''s daughter, as well as multiple narrators, emulating oral tradition. The novel embraces food as a communal practice with the ability to heal a family through storytelling. Dreaming with Mariposas presents glimpses of poetic diction in times of anti-rhetoric, inspiring readers to reclaim their sacred spaces and voices and to pursue dreams even when the future looks dismal. Chofi witnesses institutional racism, sexual harassment, and colorism and learns to navigate her parents'' dreams and her dreams as she discovers her superpower, the strength of her Mexican Indigenous heritage, and the spirit world.

Diana Elizondo's second full collection of poetry consists of macabre and somber imagery that comment on love and society. All are told in a surreal motif which blurs the line between reality and dream.

Dreaming brings together lyrical renditions, little boys dancing "the washing machine," prayers over velas, and odes to purple, sparkly hips swaying to cumbia beats. There's thirty-three works of poetry, prose, and fiction on these pages that provide such narratives: "For Selena" by Timothy Daily-Valdés, "One of Us: Selena Quintanilla-Pérez" by Nancy de la Zerda, "La Milagrosa Selena" by Rubén Degollado and plenty more pieces showing the world the impact she continues to make on the dance floor and across generations.