Reviews of For the Hard Ones in English

Hard-Assed, Punk-Tinged, Earthy-Crunchy Lesbian Poetry
Review written by Rachel Pepper - Curve, May 2003

Curve contributor tatiana de la tierra is, in the words of fellow Latina lesbian author Achy Obejas, "a Sapphic warrior in Miami Beach and Buffalo, New York and the City of Los Angeles: Cyber-Sappho, Super-Sappho, Sappho-Kinetic with her Spec-Sappholar Sappho-citis, tatiana is the real Sappho-thing." Wow, what a recommendation!

This bilingual collection of hard-assed, punk-tinged, earthy-crunchy lesbian poetry includes several great one-liners, like "Lesbianism is an art form"; "The fingers: classified as vital organs" and "That is how you enter lesbianism: naked and in love." The "hard ones" from the title refers to butches, the ones who "wear the pants and never take them off, the ones who get on top, the ones who fuck. who bite. who penetrate. they are the most exciting."

The poems in this book tell small truths about lesbians in a reimagined retelling of Dante Medina's Spanish-language text Zonas de la escritura. However, whether you know the history of that text is relatively unimportant to this book's enjoyment. So just enjoy poems such as "Tell me how you decorate your lips and I'll tell you who you are" and "Penetration" simply for what they are: innovative, sexually tinged poetry told by a fierce Latina lesbian self-described as an editor, activist, salsera, librarian and - a term that I think I am soon to co-opt for myself - "combat femme."

From Curve Magazine April 2003

POETRY
De la Tierra, Tatiana
Para las duras: Una fenomenología lesbiana/For the Hard Ones: A Lesbian Phenomenology
U.S.: Chibcha Pr. & Calaca Pr. 2002 160p. bibliog. ISBN 0-9717035-2-3. pap. $14. POETRY

Born in Colombia and raised in Miami, lesbian writer and librarian De la Tierra edited the provocative 1990s Latina lesbian magazines Esto bo tiene nombre and Conmoción. In this, her first bilingual prose-poetry collection, she celebrates lesbian life. As she writes about women's bodies and desires and what they hide and reveal, De la Tierra manages to be simultaneously sensual and funny. In poems like "About the Tongue" she asks: "Why not admit that the tongue is the lesbian mascot?" A diligent observer of lesbian life, De la Tierra takes the ordinary and renders it meaningful. The decor of fingernails signals "intimate desires," while newsletters and matchbooks serve as "lesbian literature." De la Tierra's poetry is unapologetic as she breaks down stereotypes: Lesbian wear high heels and cowboy boots. She also writes sincerely about what makes lesbians different from others. These are women, she writes, who give up "the path that was already written" and make full use of their possibilities, like being a wife and having a wife. De la Tierra's poetry, with its humor and penchant for repetition, lends itself to performance, and while it philosophizes on lesbianism her work is still accessible to a general audience. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries with collections of poetry and gay/lesbian studies.

- Daisy Hernández, New York City

Wild Librarian's Book Resonates with Calm Elegance
Reviewed by Caitlin Keegan. Review published in Art Voice, April 3, 2003.

Hailing originally from Colombia, now-local artist Tatiana de la Tierra has become one of those precious flowers in the Buffalo artistic community's cap. A writer in both Spanish and English, a self-proclaimed hedonist and pornographer, and perhaps the wildest librarian you'll ever meet, De la Tierra produces work focused on the creative potential and the political implications of her identities as both queer and Latina. Poetic yet confrontational, her work is by no means without humor, as those who witnessed her performance of "Big Fat Pussy Girl" in HAG Theater's The Vagina Dialogues will recall. De la Tierra's For the Hard Ones reads as a collection of musings on the definition of lesbianism itself, exploring the plasticity of lesbian experience and its multiple yet simultaneous incarnations. Although written as a "lesbianized" parody of Dante Medina, De la Tierra's book often resonates with the calm elegance of a Buddhist meditation. As phenomenology, For the Hard Ones performs a study of the "possible appearances" in lesbian experience. Issues of community, self-identification, representation, and desire are woven through De la Tierra's recitation of lesbian phenomena. In keeping with the work's exploration of multiplicity, For the Hard Ones also includes the original Spanish version, which is printed from the back of the book forward and meets the English text in the center-a very "queer" mirroring indeed.

Reviewed by Myriam Guba.
Review published in Girlfriends, page 19, April 2003

With the release of her first book-length work, For the Hard Ones: A Lesbian Phenomenology, editor-poet-essayist tatiana de la tierra adds philosopher to the many hats she's worn. The Hard Ones is actually two books in one: a Spanish text (Para las Duras) that, when flipped over, also reveals an English translation. A metaphysical treatise on the nature of Latina lesbian identity, For the Hard Ones blends philosophy with prose poetry to explore the uncharted territory of queer Latina sexuality and language (with plenty of punning on the Latina lesbian "tongue"). The brevity and open-endedness of de la tierra's text may leave some unanswered questions. Grade: A-.