Demetria Martínez

In Breathing Between the Lines, the writer returns to poetry, her first love. From childhood, writing poems has been both a refuge and a release through the power of her own imagination. In 1988, however, Martinez's poetry was used against her in a federal indictment for smuggling Salvadoran refugees into the United States. The incriminating poem carried this punch line: "In my country, we sing of a baby in a manger, finance death squads." Seven long months later, she was acquitted. After the trial - "a poet's nightmare, in which words, so full of liberating possibilities, were twisted and used against me" - Martinez's poetry dried up. Years passed before "the miracle" of writing finally brought her reconciliation and a return to sanity from the searing experience. Once again, poetry now drives her life, fills her days, and gives meaning to a world gone crazy.

Poetry, politics, and no-holds-barred emotions burst from the tiny binding of a notable first novel by poet and activist Martínez (Turning, not reviewed). via KIRKUS REVIEW

When Grandpa Luis's grandchildren are visiting him in Chimayo, New Mexico, they see pictures of animals in one of the tortillas he has cooked for their breakfast.

Guadalupe Anaya is pregnant and as the newly elected block captain of Sunset Street she is in charge of raising awareness of safety in her Albuquerque neighborhood. While she waits for the baby, Lupe writes letters to her unborn child, whom she names Destiny. It is Lupe's dream that her daughter will be a writer, pushing a pen instead of a broom.

Contains fifty-three poems exploring the topics of romantic love, spiritual life, and morality.