by Catherine Marenghi

This article is part of an ongoing series on poets and poetry with roots in San Miguel.

Carmen Rioja has been part of the cultural fabric of San Miguel de Allende more than thirty years – as a poet, journalist, art restorer, and cofounder of the Festival de Escritores – the Spanish-language program of the San Miguel Writers' Conference. Earlier this year, she became president of the Biblioteca Publica de San Miguel.

Rioja was born in 1975 in Monterrey, the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. She spent her childhood between the cities of Sabinas, Coahuila, and Monterrey. From a family of merchants and cowboys, she was raised by her divorced mother, who worked in an ice factory. The future librarian discovered her love of books in a now-abandoned public library in the historic center of Monterrey. At an early age, she also showed an interest in art. In that city, she entered the Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramirez Academy of Arts to take sculpture classes.

In the 1990s, she began studying art restoration and architecture in San Miguel. She immediately fell in love with the city. Since then, she has moved effortlessly across multiple disciplines, including writing, literary critique, restoration of archaeological artifacts, and coordinating creative workshops.

Among her works: Rioja has published a poetry book, Rojo 43 (2020) and La Muerte Niña (2002), a book of stories. She was editor of This, a San Miguel travel and leisure magazine. Her writing has been widely anthologized in publications such as El Corazon Prestado: El mundo precolombino en la poesia de los siglos XIX y XX (2004), Three Messages and a Warning (2020), and El largo sueno de las cifras (2014). Her work has also appeared in numerous periodicals. She was a columnist for El Corregidor; contributor to the newspapers AM San Miguel and Diario de Querétaro; and host for five years on the radio program Sancho Panza de Cabeza, together with the poet Yolanda Lacarieri.

Describing these wide-ranging works, Rioja commented, "I like to write stories or poems, put them in bottles and throw them into the sea."

Poetic Origins

As a graduate in Art Criticism from the Institute of Critical Studies in Mexico City, and a student of Spanish literature, sculpture and panting, Rioja studied in a variety of literary workshops and took courses with the teachers Maria Luisa Puga, Guillermo Samperio, Antonio Vilanova, Juan Villoro, Jorge F. Hernández, Julián Herbert, and others.

However, her formal training did not focus on writing poetry. Her family never encouraged her to be a poet.

"My mother thought I could never be a poet because I didn't come from a family of poets. There was no poetic lineage. She felt that poetry was too noble, too elevated, to spring from just anyone. I was told it was not something for me."

Nonetheless, poetry managed to find a way into her life while she was focused on something entirely different: professional art restoration. In her thirty-two years in restoring art, she worked extensively on the restoration of the murals in the Sanctuary of Atotonilco (Santuario de Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco). She has also restored ancient pre-Hispanic ceramics found at the pyramid at Cañada de la Virgen, an Otomi archaeological site outside San Miguel, as well as restoring paintings and textiles for Galería Atotonilco.

The Sanctuary of Atotonilco is a church complex and part of a World Heritage Site, so designated along with nearby San Miguel. The complex was founded in 1740 by Father Luis Felipe Neri de Alfaro, who, according to tradition, was called upon by a vision of Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head with blood on his face and carrying a cross. That vision is embodied in the statue "Lord of the Column" (Señor de la Columna), enshrined along the church's main nave.

The rich Mexican Baroque mural work that adorns the main nave and chapels was chiefly the work of Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre over a period of thirty years. The mural work has led the complex to be dubbed the "Sistine Chapel of Mexico," and for Pocasangre to be dubbed the "Michelangelo of Mexico."

The art and architecture of the Sanctuary had suffered from deterioration over the years, mostly due to high humidity stemming from the thermal springs that flow under the ground on which the complex rests. The moisture and minerals from the springs were seeping into the walls and foundations, causing them to crumble and damaging to the murals, oil paintings and sculptures. Restoration work began in 1994.

Rioja's work on restoring the Sanctuary's precious murals over many years gave her a surprising close-up look at the poetry of Father Alfaro. Lines from his poetry, rarely seen by the casual observer, were incorporated in the frescos of the Sanctuary. For example:

This sonnet is thought to be Father Alfaro's most beautiful composition, and it was a source of deep poetic inspiration to Rioja, who began to rethink her mother's assertion that she could not be a poet herself.

Her work in art restoration helped ignite her passion for poetry. A striking example, combining her deep connection with San Miguel's ancient roots, art, and literary history, is the following poem, which appeared in the anthology; 15: Celebrating Fifteen Years of Literary Excellence from the San Miguel Writers' Conference (2020). These are excerpts from the poem:

You reveal yourself in fragments
American Jerusalem
No one knows your name

Multitude

This silence is not fortuitous
but rather an inward skein

listen to the silence

[ …. ]

On the railroad tracks, a beat poet died
Neal Cassidy and the cold embankment where he died:
All in the same comedy.

V. Saint Michael the Protector

Rust on the palms of the hands,
silica deposits in the memory,
lacerations where the prayer is repeated,
and something doesn't fit.
From your entrails
Something is unsaid.

VI. Heavenly Jerusalem

They all wished for the same thing:
to decide the geometry,
it would be the perfect city,
they would follow God's plans to draw it.

They divided, some in lines,
others in perfect circles,
and so on, each dreamer.

The last ones erased the history of the stones.
 

Convergence of Spanish and English Poets

Because she is fully bilingual, Rioja has straddled the worlds of both Spanish and English writers. While studying art and literacy at Bellas Artes, she began to bring in writers to teach workshops there. She carried over that experience to her work with the San Miguel Writers' Conference, where she played an important role in the early years of the Conference. Working closely with Conference founder Susan Page, she helped create the Spanish-language side of the Conference and recruited Spanish faculty and keynoters in the early years. She continues to help showcase writers in both languages on the Biblioteca Publica stage.

"I would say San Miguel attracts both English and Spanish writers in equal measure. The problem is that we often don't see each other, largely because of the language barrier. Now we have the opportunity to break that barrier more easily because we have incredible translation technology, in particular with our cellphones."

Rioja acknowledges that cultural barriers go beyond language. "Many English-speaking writers who come to live here are retired. They often have substantial financial assets and more leisure hours – much more than Mexicans do. So there is that economic disparity. Then there is the tendency to congregate with those who speak your language. Think about all the people who visit San Miguel on weekends, from Mexico City, Leon, or Guanajuato, many of them students. Many of them could be writers. Would you know them if you saw them on the streets?"

Where poetry is concerned, Rioja sees particular challenges. "I think poetry in Mexico is neglected. Many people in Mexico don't have any idea what poetry is – no appreciation of the form. I think many people are taught in school that poetry is hard to understand, and that's unfortunate. I think the same is true in the U.S.

"People should be taught to hear the music, the fun of poetry, but they don't teach poetry that way. So I'm always talking to people who say they don't like poetry. We know Pablo Neruda was beloved by ordinary people. He wrote poems that were accessible for everybody. He had a poem about an onion. Another about his socks. But not every poet can speak to people in that way."

When asked if she now identifies as a poet, Rioja replied, "Good question. I haven't always, but now I certainly do. I wear many hats. But it was very hard for me to get to this point where I would call myself a poet. I thought it was unachievable for us 'mere mortals.' I wrote poetry as a child, but without encouragement. I never wanted to show my poetry to anyone. And if it didn't bring in money, as my art restoration work did, my family didn't consider it worthwhile. Of course, I could always study on my own and expand my horizons and go to a lot of workshops.

"My art restoration work was extremely important to my poetic development, because that is where I learned poetry – from the poet Father Alfaro. He has more than 100 works that are embedded in the walls of the Sanctuary of Atotonilco. It's actually a poetry book written in the murals, but most people can't get close enough to see these words. There are a few published fragments. UNAM, the University in Mexico City, has an outstanding researcher named Clementina Diaz y de Ovando, and she is the only one who has recovered and transcribed these poems and published them.

"Alfaro reminds me of Michelangelo, who was so well known for his frescoes and sculpture, but he also wrote elegant poetry. He's not known for that, but that's what he did. Just like Father Alfaro, who commissioned the painter Pocasangre to create all of the murals, but they did more – they also incorporate his poetry. Alfaro's poetry was inspired by Santa Teresa and San Juan de la Cruz."

Rioja's stunning poem about San Miguel (see above), which was published in the Writers' Conference 15th anniversary anthology, was also selected by the University of Spain for a scholarly collection, and that gave her confidence and credibility. She has also worked diligently to get her poetry into literary magazines, relying on her skills in developing relationships with writers and editors.

Her 2020 poetry collection, Rojo 43, is a culmination of her literary and artistic influences. It unites geography, history, and a deep visceral connection to her ancestry and homeland. Consider this poem from that collection:

América, quererte pura, virgen
asomo dentro de tus junglas
vuelvo sobre tus pisadas
en la hojarasca

para desandar tu rastro
vuelvo en mis pasos

como desatar un nudo
en el paraíso que respiro
o tejer con oraciones un rosario
contar cuántas cuentas hay
en el Tzompantli...
 

This is poetry that defines what it means to be Mexican. It embraces the land, the people, and the often cruel history of the Americas in a style that is both joyful and disturbing, tragic and sensual. The final reference to the Tzompantli – the ceremonial rack that traditionally held the skulls of war captives and sacrifice victims – is a profound symbol of Rioja's heritage and her place at the crossroads of art, literature, and culture.

**************

Catherine Marenghi is a local poet, novelist and memoirist who has been active in the San Miguel literary scene for more than a decade. She has published three poetry books, a memoir, and a historic novel. A native of Massachusetts, she has made San Miguel her permanent home.

www.marenghi.com

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