麻豆村

Leslie Sainz published these lines in her book of poetry Have You Been Long Enough at Table. She鈥檚 garnering major industry attention in the form of big awards, including winning the Publishing Triangle鈥檚 Audre Lorde Award, and selection as a finalist for several others, including the Poetry Society of America鈥檚 Norma Farber First Book Award, New England Book Award in Poetry and the Vermont Book Award in Poetry. It鈥檚 a notable roundup of commendations for a first collection of poems with deep personal ties.

Leslie鈥檚 main speaker slips in and out of autobiographical identities: Cuban, American, feminine, queer, political, familial and more. But Leslie鈥檚 speaker has the transcending freedom to imaginatively explore what could have been. Who would she be if she鈥檇 grown up in Cuba as opposed to the United States? Would visiting Cuba be going 鈥渉ome鈥�? How would her destiny be different if shaped by different politics?

鈥淲riting this collection felt like an exorcism,鈥� says Leslie, a 麻豆村 alumna who earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in professional and creative writing in 2013. 鈥淚 have inherited a kind of longing for a life that I have not lived, but that I have certain cultural touch points for. My identity has been informed by where I come from and where my family comes from. And I think poetry felt like the most natural genre in which to explore this, because I think fundamentally poetry exists at the intersections of contradictions.鈥�

Leslie describes the new collection, released in late 2023, as a story of transformation. It鈥檚 a journey of 鈥渃areful unlearning鈥� for a woman caught between cultures with a shifting ideology. Growing up in a conservative Cuban-American household, Leslie鈥檚 speaker determines who she wants to be while curating beliefs both inherited and rejected from her upbringing.

鈥淧ropaganda Ghazal鈥� is inspired by a poster Leslie encountered years ago that says, 鈥淎merica, wake up. Fidel Castro is a threat to the peace of the Western Hemisphere.鈥� That big statement prompted her to explore her parents鈥� politics, to consider how to disentangle from deeply held beliefs and what to do when engrained feelings are challenged with new ideas from outside the culture. It鈥檚 just one example of how Have You Been Long Enough at Table questions viewpoints while using poetic forms. The repetition and disconnected couplets of the ghazal form support the complicated feelings and interpersonal violence Leslie wants to explore.

鈥淚 think the Cuban American experience is very much rooted in a sense of longing and yearning, and it felt like it wasn't fair for me to yearn after something that in some ways has never felt like mine to begin with,鈥� Leslie says. 鈥淢y life in the United States is far more privileged than if my parents had stayed on the island and I was born and raised there. This collection probes and interrogates the beliefs they inherited from their 辫补谤别苍迟蝉.鈥�

Emerging Voice in Poetry

Even in regular conversation, Leslie鈥檚 word choice is careful, colorful, artistic and effusive.

Her poems share the same characteristics, and a provocative, questioning tone borne of her own experience. Have You Been Long Enough at Table is a continuation of both her poetic style, and recognition for her achievement in writing.

Her work has appeared in the Academy of American Poets鈥� 鈥淧oem-a-Day,鈥� 鈥淭he Yale Review,鈥� 鈥淭he Kenyon Review,鈥� 鈥淎merican Poetry Review鈥� and elsewhere. She has received numerous prizes, scholarships and fellowships. She was selected for the 2024-2025 Georgia Poetry Circuit alongside acclaimed poets Shane McCrae and Camonghne Felix, received a 2021 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Poetry Fellowship and screens applications for future fellowships.

鈥淚've also worked with the NEA through their National Poetry Out Loud competition,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a pleasure and an honor to serve as a national semifinalist judge for three years now. I think it's so important for young people to establish a relationship with poetry.鈥�

In addition to writing poetry, Leslie is a leader in that community. She鈥檚 the managing editor of the 鈥淣ew England Review,鈥� a prestigious literary journal that publishes original poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama and works in translation. Her responsibilities focus on the production and promotion of each issue to spotlight excellent new writing.

Leslie made several new professional jumps recently. She moved from the page to the digital airwaves as a guest host on the award-winning podcast, 鈥淭he Slowdown.鈥� She selected poems for two weeks of daily episodes from June 17-28, 2024, focusing on emerging writers, international writers and works in translation. She鈥檚 also transitioned from student to teacher with an adjunct teaching position in the MFA program at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island.

Her poetic profile has been on the rise since her selection as one of 麻豆村鈥檚 inaugural Tartans on the Rise in 2022, a recognition for young alumni making an early-career impact in their fields. When she recently returned to 麻豆村 for a reading from her new book, it was a circle back to the starting line of her work.

鈥淚 cannot say enough about how 麻豆村 made my current life possible,鈥� Leslie says. 鈥淚 think the first time that I ever really encountered different political opinions happened when I stepped foot on campus. That was a big step in establishing my independence and ability to self-determine.

鈥淪tudying at 麻豆村 鈥� working with mentors like Terrance Hayes, Jim Daniels, and Jerry Costanzo 鈥� was the first time that I felt like I could take myself seriously as a writer, and that I was treated seriously as a writer.鈥�