POETRY BOOK: RELEASE DATE JULY 31
“How to Survive an Asthma Attack in a Climate Apocalypse”
In How to Survive an Asthma Attack in a Climate Apocalypse, the body and the Earth become twin landscapes of destruction and renewal, moving through chronic illness, political grief, heartbreak, and reclamation. Traversing ruin in search of repair, these poems imagine futures “free of international / Boundaries and colonial conquests,” grounding hope in tenderness, ancestral wisdom, and radical dreaming.
Praise for How to Survive an Asthma Attack in a Climate Apocalypse “In How to Survive an Asthma Attack in a Climate Apocalypse, Ochoa masterfully merges violence, love, the physical body, and the earth into an undeniable crisis of breath. At the center of these poems is resistance against the future of this planet and of the speaker’s body—how amidst all this destruction there is love. Throughout these pages, we inhale and exhale history, borders, desire, and fire as each page is a leap into the next moment where every ‘Birth of a new ending / I was resurrected again.’ These poems remind us that where we begin and end are at the heart of survival.”
—Saúl Hernández, How to Kill a Goat and Other Monsters (University of Wisconsin Press, 2024)
published work
POETRY FEATURE
“Coyote and Planet Genesis”
“Guerra de las galaxias (un corrido tumbado)”
Xicanxfuturism: Gritos for Tomorrow, edited by Scott Russell Duncan (Riot of Roses Press).
POETRY FEATURE
“Zapatista spaceship”
Not Your Papi's Utopia: Latinx Visions of Radical Hope, anthology edited by Matthew David Goodwin, Alex Hernández, and Sara Rivera (Mouthfeel Press).
POETRY FEATURE
“Andro-gynous”
Space & Time Magazine, Issue #148.
POETRY FEATURE
“The Water Prophecy”
Quaternary Realms, Speculative Short Story Anthology, edited by C.M. Bratton.
POETRY FEATURE
“SpaceDepot”
Star*Line Magazine.
Issue 48.2
POETRY FEATURE
“Marigolds always lead me to you”
VOICES de la Luna: A Quarterly Literature & Arts Journal, Vol. 14 Issue #4, Page 42, March 2024.
POETRY FEATURE
“Asthma (A Self-Portrait)”
Cuéntame Literary Magazine, Issue #1, October 2024.
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Purple-pink nails
Lips flicker to blue
Gasp for air
Born of asthmaAnd clubfoot, feet
Twisted, bent
Inverted inward
Downward.
A tía told mom
it is God’s will to accept
That I was 1 of 1000 chosen ones.
But, amá decided to defy
God’s plan, thank god.Anesthesia
Tender skin
Pierced through.
Major foot reconstruction
Tiny white cast
with pins holding my foot
in place.The latest Los Bukis song
emanates from dad’s stereo.
I cried to the rhythm
of mucus production
and nostrils widening
Tortured feet
set on fire
by Hernán Cortés.
My breathing stops
until shaken by amá.
Three red tunas appear
from the thorny nopal, now sprouting
from our foreheads
A brown eagle
devours a serpent
towards us.Birth of a new ending / I was resurrected again.
POETRY FEATURE
“workingroots”
“sadboi, a brief & sad simile”
Windward Review, Vol. 22, Pages 88-90, 2024.
POETRY FEATURE
“Red”
La Raíz Magazine, Issue #4, Page 22, 2024.
POETRY FEATURE
“I’m queer like”
Big Pride Zine, Issue #3, October 2024 (Good Ruff Press).
