Lineage of Rain

Janel Pineda (b. 1996 Los Angeles, CA) is a Salvadoran poet and educator. A first-generation college graduate, she earned a BA in English from Dickinson College, where she was a Posse Scholar. Pineda has performed her poetry internationally in both English and Spanish, and been published in LitHub, PANK, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, and The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the U.S., among others. She is a part of the editorial team that founded La Piscucha Magazine, a multilingual arts, literature, and culture magazine created by Salvadoran writers. Since her involvement with the 2018 Radical Roots Delegation, Pineda is also a member of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). She is currently pursuing dual master’s degrees in creative writing and gender studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, as a Marshall Scholar.

“In Lineage of Rain, Janel Pineda makes diasporic Salvadorans whole. Her poems—at once gentle and powerful—recognize our pain, hold it caringly, and then release it, ephemerally answering our stubborn questions about who we are and why we’ve suffered. Pineda clothes diasporic sorrows in rhythmic tempos and warm images that remind us that we were always whole, bringing into existence joyful possibilities in the past, present, and future.”—Leisy Abrego, author of Sacrificing Families: Navigating Laws, Labor, and Love Across Borders“Janel Pineda’s chapbook is a heartfelt manifesto of the tender and resilient Salvadoran spirit that breaks from the ashes of war and migration to burst into laughter. Pineda’s seamless weaving of stories proves she is a true seamstress of words, a necessary poet for our time. Her poems glow in the dark and we follow their light. Through sharp poetic forms that crumble on the page or shrink into the margins, you are taken on the haunting journey of the rich history and livelihood of being a Salvadoran woman. Lineage of Rain is a clever force—like the Siguanaba, it wraps and twists around our body; this collection booms with hope like a mother’s eyes or the wings of a torogoz. Most importantly, Lineage of Rain does what it wants: it breaks apart, chews, and spits out the many systems that failingly seek to crush us. Pineda teleports us to Paradise, the new world that is in the flux of this moment, piercing a light through the storm of war.”—féi hernandez, author of HOOD CRIATURA“Janel Pineda’s brilliant chapbook is the grown-up version of the child who sat in the corner at family gatherings, listening, watching, and taking notes. And oh, has that child grown up to master language like I haven’t read in a while. Pineda’s poems are both surprising and dangerous like a winding road next to a barranco. This chapbook is just the beginning of a long career, where family is valued and women are always, siempre, at the center of every word. Tread carefully because these words tienen filo y te van hacer chillar.”—Javier Zamora, author of Unaccompanied“Let the record show that Janel Pineda’s poems trace not just a geographic migration but also a migration towards love. In Lineage of Rain, Pineda transforms images to show us how water can drown in some instances and heal in others. Pineda sees both pain and celebration, and writes both with equal tenderness. Pineda has crafted a book that wounds and heals, in a multiplicity of forms that honor the multiplicity of our lives. These are poems to treasure.”—José Olivarez, Author of Citizen Illegal