Meanwhile (2020)

El primer poemario de Cynthia Rodríguez Juárez. Disponible ahora en Burning Eye Books.

Cover for the book Meanwhile, by Cynthia Rodríguez. Its background is a collage in red, with the title and author's name in white letters on a green backdrop.

Este es un libro sobre estar atrapado en el Mientrastanto. Caminando por viajes aparentemente perpetuos entre fronteras, géneros, nacionalidades y estatus social.

Como producto de la mezcla de razas, pero no de raza mixta. Habitando un gran cuerpo de antes sin un claro sentido de un después.

Establecido en un tiempo propio, décadas perdidas y encontradas en el camino, a merced de las circunstancias sociopolíticas, los procedimientos legales y los resultados de las pruebas. Cíclicamente propenso a fallar y comenzar de nuevo.

These respectability parameters are the ones accepted for those who are locked within the narrative of ‘the good migrant’, ‘the successful queer’, ‘the child prodigy’, ‘the perfect body’ and ‘the beautiful mind’; as if the only way to escape judgement and earn dignity as human beings within the margins is to fit into the media and government-approved stories of acceptance and assimilation at the right time, place and age.

Through these pages, we embrace the Meanwhile, and we embrace ourselves to get ready for whatever comes next.


reseñas

Cynthia Rodríguez unflinchingly turns a mirror to self, to Britain, what it means to be a migrant, a citizen. Fearful and fearless.
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DEAN ATTA
Poeta y novelista, The Black Flamingo
Rodriguez uses both formidable composition, weaving layer complexity with accessible lyrical language to challenge the approved narrative of what a migrant must do to be accepted, humanising in its approach. Sharp and bright, Meanwhile is a devastatingly moving book I highly recommend.
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NIKITA GIL
Jhalak Prize #PoetsWeLove
Cynthia has a profoundly distinct voice which, coupled with their razor-sharp insightful view of the world has created a beautiful, heart breaking and hilarious collection of poetry.
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JESS GREEN
Poeta y guionista, Burning Books, EastEnders
In this confident and important debut, Rodríguez draws on heritage, culture and politics to sing a ‘Girl Electric’ – reframing and reclaiming a range of often marginalised experiences – to devastating, triumphant and compelling effect.
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LYDIA TOWSEY
Poeta, The Venus Papers
Following in the Latin American tradition but (dis)placed in contemporary Britain, Cynthia Rodríguez cleverly blurs the lines between playful kitsch, deadpan humour and lightning flashes of poetic revelation.
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JUANA ÁDCOCK
Poeta y traductora, I Sugar the Bones