Achiote Press

	Here Is A Pen an anthology of West Coast Kundiman Poets cover art by Monica Ong Reed 2009 signaled many changes for Kundiman, an organization dedicated to providing a nurturing space for Asian American poets. Like other arts organizations, Kundiman experienced cuts in funding in the economic downturn. In particular, organizations that foster marginalized communities and in the arts, no less, are often the first castoffs for a pool of limited resources. With this knowledge, current and alumni Kundiman fellows nationally began to organize... More
	The Most Wild, Kindly Green by Erin M. Bertram cover art by Alison Shepard "A leveling of breaths between greeting & what's left when greeting Dissolves beyond recognition." from "Across, Wildly, the Room" More
	U by Johnny Hernandez handmade and numbered "U" is a collection of twenty-three loose-leaf poems, hand-cut, numbered and "bound" in sleeves of translucent vellum. The poems themselves range from the structurally traditional to works nearly unrecognizable as "poems" on the page. The work draws upon a stunning breadth of source material, including genetics, Greek mythology, subparticle physics, music, and everyday conversation. Blasts of language fill these pages, ranging from the lyrical ("there are trees of death standing/to lighten the burden/of blood. there sways the grid/dragged inward constellations/Hold stern against silent boards") to the stark ("he didn't have to make me feel like shit") - often on the same page. More
	Urracá by Roberto Harrison cover art by Aubrey Rhodes "white stone outside a harvest of flesh nubs, a secretive and silent family, without reward" from "symbol table" More
	Ballast by Nii Ayikwei Parkes cover art by Ketzia Schoneberg "The ships that sank never really stood a chance; the captured in the holds, less." from "Ballast IV: Flung Out Like A Fag-End" More
	The Moon Ain't Nothing But a Broken Dish by Luis Felipe Fabre translated by Jason Stumpf cover art by Sally Ann Rodriguez "Dijo: Traigo una piedra lejana. Dijo: Pesan las manos, no la piedra." from "Piedra y otros palabras" More
	The Plague Doctor by Garrett Burrell cover art by Elisa Carozza "because the whole time we had no idea of the ways we were never really apart." from "The Plague Doctor" More
	Achiote Seeds, Fall 2008 with poems by Hugo García Manríquez, François Luong, Evie Shockley, and Roberto Harrison cover art by Mary V. Marsh "it was a dark and nightly storm. every whisker predictable, predicted. the thunder drumming against the usual lips and eyes, the blood and bruises splitting all the old familiar hairs." from "bop for presidential politics, c. 2008" by Evie Shockley More
	From "Dreams of Departure" excerpts from Jennifer Reimer's poetry collection "Dreams of Departure." illustrations by Jason Buchholz handmade and numbered ** More
	Achiote Seeds, Summer 2008 with poems by Robert Sullivan, Tiare Picard, Sage U'ilani Takehiro, Michael Lujan Bevacqua, and Dan Taulapapa McMullin cover art by Pati Hays "It gives at the shoulders, just enough to keep arms from asking too much of air because questions lead to stray paths, menacing corners on beaches, and such." from "Burkha" by Tiare Picard More
	Saramé an excerpt from the novel "Saramé" by Maria Tuttle "She liked going to bed without washing her neck. She liked sitting alone in her room, looking at herself in the mirror. She liked arranging Marmar's brooches on her night table, expensive infantries of baubles. She liked untying her blouse and studying her long neck. With her fingertip, she traced the tip of her chin and followed her neck to the hollow. This is where her voice lived, she thought." More
	Achiote Seeds, Spring 2008 with poems by Brenda Cárdenas, Cristina García, Emmy Pérez, and Gabriela Erandi Rico cover art by Celia Herrera Rodríguez "What do we compose with our hands that we have no conceived with our feet? See with our eyes that we have not imagined with our breath? What news is not remembered? What memory not news?" from "La Cuentista" by Brenda Cárdenas More
	The Lone Mountain Anthology featuring the work of poets from the University of San Francisco's MFA program cover art by Jason Buchholz "a conjurer and a maid, this word is moving sand swept and redeposited in dunes, a jar of hemp oil buried, an escarpment slowly, an escarpment slowly rising" from "hymn 3" by Val Witte More
	The Naturalist by Hillary Gravendyk cover photograph by Benjamin Burrill "foot falls a leaf in the shadowless pathway of no ground white as a pressure of snow" from "Blue Hole" More
	Achiote Seeds, Winter 2008 with poems by Javier Huerta, Gerardo Diego (translated by Francisco Aragón), Veronica Montes, and Mónica de la Torre cover art by Steven Robert Barich "Leave it to the Lord to pluck constellations and let's fall asleep without reading the stars." from "LOOKOUT" by Gerardo Diego translated by Francisco Aragón More
	Objective Practice by Mia You cover art by Mia You and Floris Tilanus "In last night's stale dream the shadows of light from the koi fish fell onto the ground scattering the dirt." from "parenthesis" More
	Achiote Seeds, Fall 2007 with poems by Truong Tran, Francisco X. Alarcón, Victoria-Lola M. Leon Guerrero, and Theresa Sotto cover art by Carol Aust "Clotilde, the woman with two apple blossom white orchids, violet at their tips, pinned to her curly black hair; her cheeks blushed cherry pink in anticipation for love. All day, all week, all month, all her life Clotilde has waited for this, her radiant moment." from "Embodiment of Thoughts and Dreams" by Victoria-Lola M. Leon Guerrero More
	Across & Between the Void with writings by Padcha Tuntha-obas and Alysha Wood cover photo by David Buchholz "Across & Between the Void" features poems by Thai poet Padcha Tuntha-obas and an essay by Alysha Wood entitled: "Translation as strategy within the work of Padcha Tuntha-obas and other poly-lingual texts." ** More
	Novaless · I-XXVI by Nicholas Manning cover art by Sam Lopes interior art by Olga Kobenko Review ** "a doubtful light fastidious vague disquietude deserted * and without a fire winter tree-cutting and proceeding : a certain wrong * in being born..." from "XIII" ** More
	Achiote Seeds, Summer 2007 with poems by Alfred Arteaga, Marina Garcia-Vasquez, Oscar Bermeo, and Dolores Dorantes, and translations by Jen Hofer cover art by Jason Buchholz "marks a morning light one cool red and liquid star one luminous skin grates against sea-green, leaves love's body cold" from "Cochneal, Liquid, Change" by Alfred Arteaga More
	Speaking Truths: The Poetics of Defining Human Slavery produced in association with Students & Artists Fighting to End Human Slavery "Because you have no names We put the flowers all over, And prayed: Please borrow our names, my name. You could use it." from "Upon the Unmarked Graves" by Aida F. Santos More
	The Immaculate Autopsy by Todd Melicker cover art by Jason Buchholz Review "mary quiets the apart- ment. beetles take to their places on the ribcage : a long while" More
	Achiote Seeds, Spring 2007 with poems by Barbara Jane Reyes, Rich Villar, and Rebecca Mabanglo-Mayor "Resisting shatter, glass furiously pushing against its own weight, She calls me eager, smiles, brushes my hair away from my sweaty brow." from "Witness" by Rich Villar More