they call me. by angélica maria

They Call Me is a stunning act of self-definition by a powerful new voice in contemporary poetry. Angélica María Aguilera is a woman “with a story/ and the nerve to tell it,”and her courageous debut delights and surprises at every turn, unabashedly feminist, laced with humor. From Aztec warrior princesses to Frida Kahlo’s unibrow, these bilingual poems strut across the page, ablaze in music, fireworks and glitter. As Aguilera reclaims language and unlearns shame, she claims herself as a master storyteller. Call her magnificent.  

-       Diana Whitney, editor, You Don’t Have to Be Everything: Poems for Girls Becoming Themselves

Angélica Maria is an internationally touring poet and singer from Los Angeles. Her mestiza roots inspire her work that highlights femme narratives in Latinidad through both poetry and music. Her work has been featured on Facebook, Tedx, Button Poetry, and in 2021 she was contracted to write a poem for the USL National Women’s Soccer League. She has presented at universities across the country including Pratt University in New York and Harvard University in Boston. She is a finalist of the National Poetry Slam 2018, Women of the World Poetry Slam 2019 and currently lives in Mexico City where she is creating her first EP of music in Spanglish, inspired by the divine feminine.