Contributors

For over a century, El Palacio has been a forum for voices exploring New Mexico’s art, archaeology, history, and landscape. Explore the writers, photographers, historians, and scientists whose perspectives have defined the magazine’s pages—past and present.

Arthur Sze

Arthur Sze is the current U.S. Poet Laureate. Sze is a poet, translator, and editor. He is the author of twelve books, including Into the Hush, Sight Lines, and others. Sze’s poems have been translated into fifteen languages, and he is the recipient of the National Book Award among many other honors. He lives in Santa Fe.

Deborah Jackson Taffa

Deborah Jackson Taffa is a citizen of the Quechan Nation and Laguna Pueblo. Her memoir Whiskey Tender was a 2024 National Book Award Finalist and was longlisted for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Taffa serves as the director of the MFA in creative writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Cara Romero

Cara Romero is an award-winning contemporary fine art photographer. An enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Romero’s expansive oeuvre has been informed by formal training in film, digital, fine art, and commercial photography. She maintains a studio in Santa Fe, regularly participates in Native American art fairs, and was featured in PBS’ Craft in America (2019).

Hakim Bellamy

Hakim Bellamy (opens in a new tab) is an inaugural poet laureate of Albuquerque, New Mexico (2012–2014), and currently serves as deputy director for the Cultural Services Department for the City of Albuquerque. Having shared his work in no less than five countries, he is convinced that poetry is the sixth love language. He’s also written a few books. Find them (and him) at beyondpoetryink.com.

A stack of handmade, illustrated booklets with colorful taped spines and various cover designs, arranged on a white background.

A Higher Purpose: Why the state poet laureateship is about more than poetry

Read the poem, Ritual. Vessel. Volcano. Vision. The coffee shop was unusually packed with regulars for 7 p.m. on a Wednesday. There was a mix of folks, some looking like they’d been there for a while, entire book bags of belongings sprawled across tables. A noticeably larger group—appearing to be recent arrivals—were obviously there for something that would start soon. In short order, the Mega All-Ages (MAS) Poetry Slam host would secure five judges at random from audience members who committed to staying for the duration of the event.

Sun rays break through dark clouds, illuminating patches of a forested landscape with rolling hills in a black and white scene. [gen-ai]

Selected Poems

By Hakim Bellamy & Liza Wolff-Francis Hakim Bellamy Black Butterfly Whether Duke (Ellington)or Deniece (Williams)… you are Butterfly Black. Open armedin flight or otherwise.Ready for air. A flittering trumpet mute. Finding a runwayon any given pearly gate.Finding a Sundayto ever so occasionally spread your wings. Invertebrate graceoften confused for celebration. Turn insides out,spread cheeks and tongues for examination. Bare bones and teeth,as though better blocks and auctionscould preen you.