Santa Tarantula
Santa Tarantula by Jordan Pérez, published by University of Notre Dame Press in 2024, is an 80-page poetry collection that presents a powerful exploration of Cuban history and identity. Through her debut work, Pérez grants a voice to the voiceless, addressing themes of trauma and violence while delving into ancient narratives. The collection captures the tension between fear and reprieve, as well as hopelessness and light, reflecting on the experiences of political dissidents, religious minorities, and survivors of sexual violence.
Readers will find that Santa Tarantula weaves together the stories of those often unheard, intertwining family memories with moments of tragedy and resilience. The poems confront the complexities of vulnerability and the strength required to endure, revealing the impact of multigenerational trauma. With rich detail, Pérez’s work catalogues unspoken pain while emphasizing the importance of survival through storytelling, making this collection a poignant reflection on the human experience.
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The poems in Santa Tarantula grant an urgent and haunting voice to the voiceless, explore ancient narratives, delve into Cuban history and identity, and confront trauma and violence.
Jordan Pérez explores the tension between fear and reprieve, between hopelessness and light, in her debut collection, Santa Tarantula, the tenth winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. Pérez lends voices to the forgotten: to the political dissidents, gay men, and religious minorities imprisoned in the forced-labor camps of 1960s Cuba; to biblical women who were deemed unworthy to name; to survivors of sexual violence who grapple with paralyzing fear and isolation.
With rich detail, these poems weave together the stories of those who go unheard with family memories, explore moments of unspeakable tragedy with glimpses of a life beyond the trauma, and draw out what it means to be vulnerable and the strength it takes to endure. Santa Tarantula pushes through the darkness, cataloging unspoken pain and multigenerational damage, and revealing that, sometimes, survival is in the telling.
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