“It's a great feeling when someone else's writing can move you, but it doesn't compare to the experience of reading a poem, seeing yourself in it and realizing I am now the only one...being transported, even if briefly, to a moment in time you had forgotten...That's the beauty of poetry and the courage and faith poets have when they put their work out there. [This book] is vulnerability at its finest, courage at its bravest, and love of self at its core.”
— @monaquierecafe
OF A
“Dear Daddy speaks everything I feel in black and white. There is no other pain like the pain of a daddy's girl who lost her daddy too soon. So thank you for what you do. Keep writing about the real stuff!”
— Jessica H.
FIREWORK
“Her poetry is inspiring and heart wrenching all at the same time and I am reminded that it's just how life is-it's a beautiful disaster and we're gonna be ok. Thank you Angela for sharing your gift with the world- You are a true Chingona. Do yourself a favor and buy her book: Confessions of a Firework and watch her performances on YouTube- it will be good for your soul!”
— @nreyes196
CONFESSIONS
Angela reads the preface to Confessions of a Firework
CONFESSIONS OF A FIREWORK
An interactive book of poetry complete with writing prompts
Confessions of a Firework was published in 2016 by World Stage Press. It is a wound I willingly re-open, page after page.
The work found here is broken into sections that cluster together the poems in each category: Identity, love, heartbreak, death, growth, and womanhood. In each section, you will find relevant quotes from the Chicana Feminist author and my hero, Gloria Anzaldua. One of the key sources of my personal inspiration and creative awakening.
With my background in teaching and my work as a mentor, I did not want to create a collection that left out that part of me. After each section you will find writing prompts inspired by my poems but also general enough to force the reader to ask themselves questions about things they may not have considered before.
Confessions of a Firework is a personal invitation to the reader to take a journey with me back to some of the most formative moments in my life, and ultimately it is an opportunity to extract the lessons from those moments for themselves.
Before you read it, I ask of you the same thing I ask of my students: to enter into this moment with me with open ears, an open heart, and a willingness to learn.
Love, Angie