Oil and Candle

Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. LGBT Studies. OIL AND CANDLE traces imagined rituals, failed rituals, and magical objects of Santería in confronting issues of race, warfare, and the precarity of Latino lives. Object-oriented, OIL AND CANDLE localizes biographical, theoretical, and imagined content in a Limpias oil and an Abrecaminos prayer candle (or velón). It is as much a confrontation of racism in poetry as it is a torch-song to cultures inherited and not necessarily lived. OIL AND CANDLE was selected as the winner of Timeless, Infinite Light's 2015 TRACT Contest by guest judges Brittany Billmeyer-Finn, Cheena Marie Lo, and Syd Staiti.