Laurie Ann Guerrero is the poet laureate of San Antonio. In this role, she hopes to use her poetry to examine social issues and make positive change in her hometown. Her latest book, A Tongue in the Mouth of the Dying, explores difficult topics like abuse and empowerment through carefully crafted language. Guerrero feels it is important to give back to San Antonio through her writing. She also believes writing helps one understand their own truths and perspectives. The subject matter of her new book feels urgent to address and aims to dissect complex issues tenderly.

1. 38 sanantoniomag.com AUGUST 2014
3BOOKS
TOREAD
It’s Read-A-Romance
Month
BOOKS:COURTESYTHEPUBLISHERS
aurie Ann Guerrero
wants her words to slip
off the tongue like slick
melted butter—but
hopes the issues those words de-
scribe leave a lasting impression.
In her latest book, A Tongue in the
Mouth of the Dying, San Antonio’s
second poet laureate uses carefully
crafted phrases to examine social
issues. The Southside native says
sharing her work with San Antonio
is important. “I could do this work
anywhere, make change somewhere
else,” she says. “But if I’m going to
give energy to anything, I’m going
to give it to my home.”
What does being the city’s poet
laureate mean to you?
I strived for a really long time to
be heard. To have a position, as a
woman and a Chicana from a work-
ing class family, where I feel very
committed to my community and
city, I feel like finally I’m in a posi-
tion where I’m going to be heard
and listened to. That’s exciting and
it’s very empowering. At the same
time, I feel that it requires being
very careful and representing the
city in a way that honors not only
my ancestors, but the city and the
citizens as well.
Why is writing important?
When you write, you have no choice
but to write your own truth. It’s on
the page (where) we really start
to understand what it is that we
stand for—what we love, what is
true, what is dear to us. These les-
sons that you carry inside you—or
these truths that you don’t know
about yourself—sometimes we
don’t (understand them) until we
can write them down
and see them on paper.
At least, that’s been
my experience. That’s
why I encourage my
students to write.
A Tongue in the Mouth of the Dy-
ing has been called “a powerful,
necessary book.” What makes it
necessary to you?
Some of the topics I’m talking
about—infanticide, domestic abuse,
sexual abuse—are things that need
to be explored and that need to be
explored tenderly … I think the sub-
ject matter chose me, that it felt nec-
essary. I’ve said before that I don’t
write to share answers for the world.
I write because I want to dissect;
I want to know what (the world)
means to me. There are also poems
in the book about women and em-
powerment and my grandfather.
You get this juxtaposition about
these powerful men and women
and how we work in the home, in
the city, in the country,
in the world. Those are
the things that I choose
to write about because
they’re in my throat.
It’s urgent.
in the loop CULTURE
Lasting Impressions
Poet laureate uses words to impact community
BY LAUREN MORIARTY
L
Mad About You
by Lori Wilde
A Texas-based writer,
Wilde is a New York
Times–bestselling author.
In this, she shares the
story of Las Vegas P.I.
Charlee Champagne, who
teams up with the hand-
some Mason Gentry in a
search for his grandfather.
Dog Heart
by Barbara Samuel
A speaker at the recent
Romance Writers of Amer-
ica conference held in SA,
Samuel writes about sec-
ond chances and trust in
this tale inspired by a real
military dog and handler.
Mr. Right Goes Wrong
by Pamela Morsi
This USA Today–best-
selling author lives in San
Antonio. Her new release,
Mr. Right Goes Wrong, fol-
lows Mazy as she returns
to her rural childhood
town with her teenage
son, Tru.
Guerrero shares some
of her favorite books
by other writers at
sanantoniomag.com.
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