Description
Michelle Moncayo dedicates Here, on this 76L, to “immigrant families/communities living in New Jersey. Our stories deserve to take up space.” But these indelible poems—in English and Spanish translations by Alexandra Lytton Regalado—are doing much more than occupying space. Like the passengers boarding the 76L bus “at the corner of Belgrove & Woodland / …fumbling change, child in hand,” Moncayo’s poems are fierce survivors, determined to make it to the end of the line, where the rains finally come “& the guava trees are in full bloom.” Here, on this 76L by Michelle Moncayo was selected by Richard Blanco as winner of the Alta California Chapbook Prize and published in a bilingual edition.
“Michelle Moncayo’s poems burn strong with authentic feeling and personal icons swirling with wings, food as a form of prayer, and the poignant music of heritage. There is a radiating center to this collection, one that speaks to the power of where we come from and how we carry our origin stories with us in painful and beautiful ways. This is a voice that spoke to me with intimacy and truth.”
—Richard Blanco, Final Judge, Alta California Prize
Michelle Moncayo is a Dominican/Ecuadorian poet in New Jersey. Her work explores diaspora, queer identity, and mental/physical illness. She graduated with her MFA from Randolph College in 2024. She received a 2020 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She has received fellowships from SPACE at Ryder Farm, Vermont Studio Center, Sundress Academy for the Arts, CantoMundo, and VONA. Her poetry has appeared in Até Mais: An Anthology of Latinx Futurisms, Broadsided Press, No Tender Fences: An Anthology of Immigrant & First-Generation American Poetry, Palette Poetry, and Ninth Letter.
