Elena Salamanca's TAL VEZ MONSTRUOS Fragmentos de [INCOGNITA FLORA CUSCATLANICA] / MONSTERS MAYBE Fragments from [INCOGNITA FLORA CUSCATLANICA] is an excerpt from a book-length poem that explores the intersection between ecology, colonial violence, personal memory, family-ancestral knowledge, and place. Written from a historian's eye for research and detail, Salamanca weaves poetic language to explore colonial practices that led to ecological devastations in El Salvador communities and across South America. Through this exploration, the author uplifts the fragility of wildflowers and transforms their survival as vessels of environmental memory. TAL VEZ MONSTRUOS / MONSTERS MAYBE is a poetic revelation of wonder and possibilities, of metiers that might have existed in complex forms before the time of wars and colonization, masterfully translated by Ryan Greene.
