Hello, I’m Jordan
I’m a poet who works professionally in the childhood sexual abuse prevention space.
Order Santa Tarantula today
Winner of the 2024 Andrés Montoya Prize
What People Are Saying
“In Jordan Pérez’s magnetic debut, foundational narratives—religious, girlhood—crash into each other, strike sparks that illuminate violence and tenderness. What shapes us, what disfigures us, in these poems, is yoked together with a startling imagination and language that’s precise and resonant. A memorable and powerful collection.”
—Eduardo C. Corral
"Jordan Perez’s hard-driving debut finds solidarity with those run through the meat grinder of heteropatriarchy—its particular pockets and violences—and those who lifted a sabotaging instrument—or their mere selves—against that machinery. Lyrical and loud, if one were to call this book 'unflinching,' I would ask, incredulously, how they ever expected a speaker such as this to flinch."
—Kyle Dargan
"Jordan B. Pérez’ Santa Tarantula considers the devastating traces of gendered violence and intergenerational trauma, grief and pain, passed on from the state’s abuse, to the family, to the child’s body. But the girl at the center of these poems is no victim crushed into oblivion. She transfigures by her own alchemy. Pérez’ poems remind us there is always life, connection, and pleasure to be made anew."
—Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes
Poetry Acknowledgements
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2022 Andrés Montoya Prize Winner
Santa Tarantula is forthcoming in spring 2024 from University of Notre Dame Press
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2022 Poetry International Prize Finalist
“Shell” and “Smallmouth” were named finalists for Poetry International’s 2022 Poetry Prize.
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2021 Joy Harjo Prize Finalist
“Sonnet for Girlhood” was named a finalist for Cutthroat Magazine’s 2021 Joy Harjo Poetry Prize.
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2019 Poetry Prize Winner
Danez Smith chose the poem “Santa Tarantula” to win the Cosmonauts Avenue 2019 poetry prize.
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2018 Poetry Prize Finalist
“Body” was named a finalist for the Mississippi Review 2018 Poetry Prize.
