NEW BOOK OF POEMS
Plantains & Our Becoming
Poet and musician Melania Luisa Marte opens PLAINTAINS AND OUR BECOMING by pointing out that Afro-Latina is not a word recognized by the dictionary. But the dictionary is far from a record of the truth. What does it mean, then, to tend to your own words and your own record—to build upon the legacies of your ancestors?
In this imaginative, blistering poetry collection, Marte looks at the identities and histories of the Dominican Republic and Haiti to celebrate and center the Black diasporic experience. Through the exploration of themes like self-love, nationalism, displacement, generational trauma, and ancestral knowledge, this collection uproots stereotypes while creating a new joyous vision for Black identity and personhood.
Moving from New York to Texas to the Dominican Republic and to Haiti, this collection looks at the legacies of colonialism and racism but never shies away from highlighting the beauty—and joy—that comes from celebrating who you are and where you come from. PLANTAINS AND OUR BECOMING is “a full-throated war cry; both a request for anointment and the responding bendición” (Elizabeth Acevedo). Find out more.
“On Sundays, I nap as if it were blasphemy to refuse this sway of answers.
How, you ask? By making life a ritual, my body a reclamation, my spirit an infinite TikTok dance.
Like plátanos, I too know how to let the wind shake me loose.”
-Excerpt from Plantains And Our Becoming
Melania Luisa Marte is an American writer, poet, and musician from New York living between Dallas and The Dominican Republic. Marte's poetry explores her Caribbean roots, intersectionality, and self-love. Her most viral poem “Afro-Latina” was featured by Instagram on their IG TV for National Poetry Month and has garnered over 9 million views. Her work has also been featured by Ain’t I Latina, Mitu, The Root, Teen Vogue, Facebook, Telemundo, Remezcla, Pop Sugar, AfroPunk, and People En Español.
Melania’s won two Audie awards for her most recent voice-over work co-narrating novel-in-verse, CLAP WHEN YOU LAND by National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo. Marte’s latest commissioned work includes a commercial poem for McDonald’s ‘Hacer Mas’ scholarship campaign as well as starring in and writing a unique poem for Facebook’s 2020 Heritage Month celebration. Last year Melania co-wrote and starred in Instagram´s Somos Limitless campaign and this year she has had the honor of performing for White House´s Virtual Celebration of Afro-Latino Heritage.
For Melania, music has become “another fountain of endless poetry to unravel the spirit.” As a seasoned writer, she has challenged herself to expand past any limitations and explore the dynamic creativity of her artistic projects. Marte´s current writing project is exploring Black preservation through land cultivation, herbal-ism, and naps as a bridge to connect to ancestral knowledge.
Marte´s debut collection of poetry, PLANTAINS AND OUR BECOMING will be published by Tiny Reparations, an imprint of Plume and Penguin Random House Summer 2023. She is currently working on a poetic musical project to be released next year. You can follow her journey on social media: @MelaTocaTierra.
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& Love Notes
This is a small but mighty space on my website where I´ll be sharing lovely reflections, interviews, and new work. I have been honored to be also be a part of Relaciones for Refinery29. Relaciones is a monthly series that helps Latines navigate interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships by unpacking the tough but necessary conversations that come up in our communities. Read my most recent column here.
What’s a Matatana? Just Look at My
Dominican Abuelita
According to my Dominican family, a matatana is a powerful woman who takes charge of her own life, lives bravely, sheds her own skin, and makes room for rebirth. When I think of the archetypes of resilient, headstrong, and confident women, I always think of my grandmothers.
Snapback Culture Made Me Resent My Post-
Baby Body. But I Fought Back
When I was pregnant, I dreamt about being a cool mom. But snapback culture taught me that this idea I had of a cool, self-loving, and sensual mom could only exist if my body returned to what it looked like before I became pregnant — and one year after giving birth, it hasn’t.
How I’m Healing Anti-Blackness in My
Family Through Cafecito & Conversaciones
Fundamentally, these conversations are therapeutic, and they’re helping us build a healthier environment for all of us. In our efforts to break cycles of internalized hate, our families have slowly caught on. Rio just turned eight months old, and his extended family is learning to choose their words wisely around him.
For Latinx Heritage Month, Four Poets Imagine a New Future
The following poems — “Write About the Kumbia Kings” by Ariana Brown, “When Dreaming of a Future Means Letting Go" by Alan Pelaez Lopez, "A Newlywed American Portrait: My Mother & Father Handcuffed at Customs" by Melania Luisa Marte, and “Tradition” by José Olivarez — are distinctive and vital, each in their own fashion.
