Joel Roberts Poinsett served as a special envoy to Mexico from 1822-1823. Near Taxco he became very taken with a red flowering shrub. He sent a few samples back home and soon they became so popular they bore his name: poinsettias. The striking red flowers are now synonymous with Christmas in both Mexico and USA. In Mexico City the Reforma boulevard is lined with red poinsettias throughout the month of December. There is something about the heavy matte colours that make these flowers look equally beautiful when shot in black and white. A few years back, during a very strict lockdown (I was required to show papers to get in and out of my street in the heart of the centro histórico) I was commissioned to write something for Sprout, a new journal of eco-poetry. I ended up writing a prose poem named ‘Botany’, inspired by research into the history of the poinsettia. I also included a few photographs. You can read it for free here. A slightly different version ended up in Let the Dead. Though the iconic poinsettia is red, all over Mexico at this time of year you can find pink, white and cream-coloured versions and this brings us to one of the many legends associated with this flower. In Spanish the poinsettia is known simply as nochebuena (Christmas Eve) and was first used as a Catholic Christmas decoration by Franciscan monks in the colonial period. In Nahuatl, however, the flower is named Cuetlaxóchitl. One meaning of this word is ‘the flower that withers’. Legend tells of a battle between the Mexica and the Chontals. Bearing witness to the defeat of the Chontals, the white poinsettias began to wither. When they bloomed again the next season they had turned red, stained by the blood of the dead, defeated warriors. Other legends associate the flower with Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, whose temples were adorned with many flowers, the most prized of which was the ‘flower that withers’.
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Though I have not yet received my own copy, I have both a poem and an essay in the new edition of Poetry Ireland Review. I don’t want to say much about the poem other than despite it being probably the hardest one I’ve ever had to write, I am please with how it turned out. The essay was commissioned by editor Jessica Traynor and explores ideas associated with poetry and grief. Two of the poems I included in my discussion are Christmas poems: Anne Carson’s ‘Merry Christmas from Hegel’ and John Kelly’s ‘Winter’s Blessing’. I’m including photographs of the poems here but please do try to get yourselves a copy of the journal if you can.
Though I was happy with the essay, since writing it I’ve been remembering all the ‘grief poems’ that I could have or, perhaps, should have included. Here is one by Ariel Francisco.
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Jonathan Brennan is in the final stages of editing Amergin, our short film inspired by my 14-part poem ‘Tamaulipas Amergin’. Shot entirely in northeastern Mexico, the film will hopefully get an airing in 2025. Here are some stills.
When there is more news to share, it will be shared here. Happy Christmas.
Buy Let the Dead here.
