Elizabeth N. Flores: On Culturally Impactful Poems, "Mothers With Rosaries" & "My New Name"

Elizabeth N. Flores

The Windward Review is pleased to highlight local author Elizabeth N. Flores. Elizabeth taught for over 40 years at Del Mar College and was the college’s first Mexican American Studies Program Coordinator. She has published poems in Corpus Christi Writers 2022, Corpus Christi Writers 2023, the Windward Review, the Texas Poetry Assignment, The Senior Class: 100 Poets on Aging, ¡Somos Tejanas!: Chicana Identity and Culture in Texas.
 
Her poem "My New Name" will be published in The Windward Review: Power, Presence, Perspective Volume 24. The volume is scheduled to launch early this December. In this spotlight, we are featuring “Mothers With Rosaries”, published in Windward Review, Volume 22: Revolution.
 
Read Volume 22: Revolution (2024). The digital Volume is free to view through this link. Print copies are available through new Windward Review marketplace. 
 

Mothers With Rosaries 

Mothers in their houses,

with rosaries hanging from

their apron pockets.

 

Cradling beads, whispering Hail Marys

between cooking, sweeping, and washing clothes.

 

A church-like reverence without ceremony.

No scent of incense. Our Lady revered with

spices and food simmering.

 

Mothers finishing their rosaries before nightfall,

in their own inspired and deliberate ways.

Image of a mother, child in the sun, beach

Words of Praise for Elizabeth N. Flores

The Windward editorial staff share that Flores’s piece, "My New Name", showcases the importance of someone's name, including cultural ties and personal identity. The young girl, Catalina, gladly accepts her “new name” without realizing so much more is being erased besides her name.

Catalina’s struggle is common to young Mexican/Mexican Americans who take on a new name, a more American name to “fit in” to American society without realizing their history—how their ancestors were forced to change their names, how they were told to speak a new language and leave their beloved native tongue behind, how they had to leave their customs, traditions, and heritage behind to “fit in” to white American society. She might not have liked being called Kate so much; maybe she would’ve said proudly to her teacher, “My name is Catalina.

Read "My New Name" in Windward Review Vol. 24: Power, Presence, Perspective, which will be printed in early December 2026. 

Image of Ofrenda altar for Dia De Los Muertes