In part invocation and proclamation, Brenda Vaca weaves together in Odes y Oraciones (y unas pocas maldiciones) a collection of poems that celebrate the cotidiano, lift prayers for desperate causes, and dare to name and cast out predatory forces that dehumanize us all. These poems ask: where are our holy places? How do we hold on to our sacredness in the face of systemic and historic desecrations? How can we recover to rebuild and regenerate when all seems lost? Out of the rubble of patriarchal, nationalistic, and binary notions of being arises this transcendent second collection of poetry by independent writer and publisher, Brenda Vaca. These poems “channel inner ancestors” and call the poet and the reader to “speak your own name” to awaken the power within and rise up to claim a reality where empire ends, and Creation begins again and again.

Odes y Oraciones (y unas pocas maldiciones) is the second collection of poetry by independent writer and publisher, Brenda Vaca.

Brenda Vaca is a Xicana poet, public speaker, preacher, author, and independent publisher. She is the granddaughter of a moonshiner originally from Penjamo, Guanajuato, Mexico who settled in prohibition era Watts, CA and a pollero from Jocotepec, Jalisco Mexico. Her family's rootedness in self-determination and community mobilization inspired her to found Riot of Roses Publishing House in 2021. She is the author of Riot of Roses: Poems and Odes y Oraciones (y unas pocas maldiciones).

She has enjoyed performing poetry throughout California and beyond, most notably at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Museum of Art, the Latinx Research Center at U.C. Berkeley, The Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland, CA, the American Poetry Museum in Washington D.C., Chicano Park in San Diego, the San Francisco LitCrawl, LitFest in the Dena, and the Wisconsin Festival of Books.

Writing and publishing are her joyful rebellion.

Find & follow her @iambrendavaca