
The coiled serpent serves as a poetic totem to protect the City of Angels. Published by Tia Chucha Press
Over the last five years, a number of books and anthologies have been published to spotlight literary Los Angeles and its rich landscape of poets and writers. The newest anthology is the most extensive yet. Tia Chucha Press has just released, Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes and Shifts of Los Angeles. Edited by Neelanjana Banerjee, Daniel A. Olivas and Ruben J. Rodriguez, this collection includes 160 poets from well-known seasoned scribes like Wanda Coleman, Kamau Daaood, Michael C. Ford, California State Poet Laureate Dana Gioia, Peter J. Harris, Ruben Martinez, S. Pearl Sharp, Amy Uyematsu and Terry Wolverton to up-and-coming younger bards like Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, F. Douglas Brown, Jessica Ceballos, Chiwan Choi, Francisco Escamilla, William Gonzalez, Douglas Kearney, Traci Kato-Kiriyama, Teka Lark, Karineh Mahdessian, Jeffrey Martin, Luivette Resto and Vickie Vertiz.
Chicano poet and educator Francisco X. Alarcon | Photo: National Poetry Foundation
The book is dedicated to three great writers who have died in the last few years: Wanda Coleman, John Trudell and Francisco Alarcon. The volume's four-page Introduction, is written by Los Angeles Poet Laureate Luis Rodriguez and it goes a long way to describe the collection's spirit.
For me, Los Angeles is smoldering, deeply poetic, expansively settled, with rebellion beneath the normalcy, which has un chingo to do with our collective and personal spiritual awakenings, creative birthings, political schooling---why our lives are in flames, Rodriguez writes in the anthologys introduction. He connects this smoldering spirit to the many civil unrests Los Angeles has had over the last Century and also to the contemporary shifting economic conditions that are transforming the city as we speak.
Wanda Coleman at The Smell, 2007 | Photo: Harold Abramowitz/Flickr/Creative Commons
Rodriguez uses the checkered history of the city to explain the necessity of the book and his own role as one of L.A.'s guardian angels. He also connects this stewardship to the book's title: The coiled serpent is connected to the earth, but also ready to spring, to strike, to defend or to protect. The poems in this collection are meant to protect Los Angeles from ever-present forces that threaten its communities.
He continues: As I write this, mostly black and brown people in L.A. are being driven off older urban areas. Witness the gentrification of Echo Park, Highland Park, Pico-Union, Venice, sections of South Central. There's a big 1930 Art Deco building on Broadway downtown where in the early 1980s I rented a space for $60 a month. Today this building has million dollar lofts. This background information presented by Rodriguez lays the groundwork for the 340-plus pages of poems that follow.
John Trudell was a Native American poet and activist. | Photo: Vision Maker Media
As the inscription on the back-cover states: This collection is more about range than representation, voice more than volume. The poems discuss the natural and unnatural condition of our city in the first 15 years of the new century: inequalities of income and race, how peace can blossom in a time of perpetual war, the escalation of police killings and climate peril. Poems like Laurel Ann Bogen's Blue Smoke and Steel, and F. Douglas Brown's What I Know About Watts, debunk popular myths about the City of Angels, revealing another side that is only known by long-term residents. Other poems like Jen Hofer's Resolve, catalog a day in the life of a local and capture the geography of her imagination: The liquid light liquefies everything it touches, which is everything, making the opposite of halos, which is the exact outline of things against their backdrop of sky or wall of tree, Hofer reveals.
The book's hundreds of poems capture the native and the immigrant (and so-called immigrants who are actually natives), the queer and straight, women and men, young and old, humanity in all its colors, voices, and fluidity. In poem after poem, the electromagnetic spectrum that is Los Angeles is revealed again and again. The angels here/have pigeon's wings/blue collars/washed in sweat/the common salt/in tears/tongues swirl/in a stew of cultures/singing asphalt songs/in the mist of seagulls, laments Kamau Daaood in his poem, Los Angeles. The asphalt songs swirling from Los Angeles's stew of cultures make truly melodious music in the Coiled Serpent.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
16/04/2026
Appear ASA (OSE: APR) will announce three additions to its X Platform at NAB Sho...
16/04/2026
Harmonic has announced that CentralCast, a centralized master control facility for U.S. public media, has deployed Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor t...
16/04/2026
Interra Systems has announced that Encompass Digital Media has integrated its BA...
16/04/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate its Media Infrastructure capabilities at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C2408, Central Hall), bringing routing, signal processing, and orche...
16/04/2026
As preparations ramp up for the FIFA World Cup 2026, Verizon has outlined a sweeping connectivity and infrastructure initiative that will underpin broadcast ope...
16/04/2026
Advanced Image Robotics (AIR) has announced its selection for the 2026 MLS Innovation Lab. AIR will work with MLS clubs, players, and executives on automated vi...
16/04/2026
JWX has announced the acquisition of True Anthem, an AI-powered social publishin...
16/04/2026
Jomboy Media and FuboTV Inc. have launched the Jomboy Media Channel, a 24/7 channel available to FuboTV base plan subscribers. The channel, timed to the start o...
16/04/2026
Wave Central, a Domo Broadcast Company (Booth C2820), and EVS Broadcast Equipmen...
16/04/2026
Tata Communications and Formula 1 have released Race Before the Race, the firs...
16/04/2026
DPA Microphones has released a firmware update for its N-Series Digital Wireless...
16/04/2026
Sony's Live Stage at NAB Show 2026 is the place to hear directly from the content creators, end users, and technology experts who are pushing boundaries in ...
16/04/2026
Perfect Game and Youth Prospects have announced a partnership covering broadcast...
16/04/2026
National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) has announced a media rights partnership with Al...
16/04/2026
Audio-Technica has announced two new mid-side (MS) stereo broadcast microphones:...
16/04/2026
PSSI Global Services has announced the acquisition of Beagle Networks, a provider of IT infrastructure and onsite technical support for media and enterprise cus...
16/04/2026
Blackmagic Design has released Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.3, a free update available now from the Apple App Store. The update will be demonstrated at NAB Show ...
16/04/2026
As live sports production continues to expand across linear, digital, and in-ven...
16/04/2026
Part of an infrastructure upgrade, the recently constructed spaces accommodate n...
16/04/2026
NBC has added NEP's Supershooter 11, which only just came online in time for...
16/04/2026
At Spotify, we want your experience to feel intuitive and personal across every moment of the day. Whether you're streaming your favorite playlist while you...
16/04/2026
Vintage broadcast experts release second plug-in
Telsie T is the second plug-in to be released by SonicWorld, a German audio company who specialise in servi...
16/04/2026
Compact unit offers hands-on plug-in control
Softube have just announced the launch of their latest hardware unit, the Flow Studio. Housed in a compact desk...
16/04/2026
Use any VST3 plug-in on immersive audio
Fiedler Audio have just released a powerful new plug-in wrapper that brings full VST3 processing to Dolby Atmos and ...
16/04/2026
Analysis plug-in gains enhanced frequency readouts
Nugen Audio's real-time analysis plug-in has just received a significant update that introduces some ...
16/04/2026
Recording & Music Technology Show
Sound On Sound are pleased to announce a new recording and music technology exhibition taking place in London on Saturday ...
16/04/2026
SBS reveals all-star alumni team to celebrate 70 years of the Eurovision Song Co...
16/04/2026
For decades, understanding the physical world from space has required a trade-of...
16/04/2026
The integration accelerates demographic audience delivery across local markets a...
16/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/04/2026
Telestream Cloud Services, including Vantage Cloud, UP, and SENTRY monitoring tools, are now optimized for OCI, powering flexible multi-cloud media orchestratio...
16/04/2026
Fox Corporation (Nasdaq: FOXA, FOX; FOX or the Company ) today announced a strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), naming AWS as its preferre...
16/04/2026
Triveni Digital, a trusted leader in ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 service delivery, data broadcasting, and quality assurance solutions, today announced an ISDB-Tb capabilit...
16/04/2026
Synamedia and SoFast announce strategic go-to-market partnership to accelerate FAST, pay-TV, and VOD
At the NAB Show 2026, Synamedia and SoFast are announcing ...
16/04/2026
Showcases New, Open-Standard IP Solutions Across Its Portfolio, From Production to Playout
Imagine Communications is marking a decade of leadership in ST 2110 ...
16/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/04/2026
Sportway Media Group, a world leading AI-automated sports production company and Broadcast Solutions, a leading system integrator and provider of innovative sol...
16/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/04/2026
AJA Enters into Agreement to Acquire Video Encoding Software Company Comprimato
Brie Clayton April 15, 2026
0 Comments
Deal will expand AJA's video ...
16/04/2026
Deity Announces PR-4 Compact Field Recorder with Pre-Orders Launching April 14
Brie Clayton April 15, 2026
0 Comments
Deity Microphones today announce...