Theses and Dissertations Collection

This collection of poems is an exploration of what Gloria Anzaldúa calls the "borderlands" between different aspects of one's identity. More specifically, the poems in this collection work at re-imagining common Chicano myths and legends with contemporary queer issues, predominantly issues related to the lesbian experience, and considering the roles of mothers, their relationships, their experiences, in these borderlands and their surroundings. Many of the poems are written bilingually in an effort to capture different Chicano/a voices that reside in the borderland between English and Spanish speakers. Adrienne Rich once said "all true poetry is the breaking of an existing silence" and eleven of the poems in this collection are written in the voices of mothers of characters from the common Mexican bingo game, "La Loteria," in effort to give voice to women whose silences manifest in mythological space.