Carmen is a writer and a perennial learner, so you can find her rooted in discussions with bright students as easily as you can find her planted behind a good book. In fact, she says she sees her name on a few of these and has sown seeds of her work in the Themis and Acacia journals, respectively; proudly reaped a James D. Phelan Literary Award; a Solas Award in the Category of Culture and Ideas; and in 2023, she debuted A Love Letter which was honored by Small Press Distribution as a bestseller in May and June of that same year.

A Love Letter steps you into the sharp tenderness of a loved one’s transition. San Francisco Poet Laureate emeritus, Tongo Eisen Martin wrote, “Its pages expose your mind to the various mirrors of an embrace while walking you down the predatory nodes of a medical system that serves capital and rage with equal measure. In a few pages, you are years changed.”

This love letter should make you uncomfortable. It should confront you with humanity. And it should animate your cry for care that is both cost free and comprehensive – care that follows the body from inception to interment.

It is as life affirming to honor the body’s return as its arrival, which is why this little book attempts to document some of the most graceful aspects of a goodbye. Carmen tells us, readers, “A Love Letter captures where I was when my beloved aunt left the world, and where I am now, and where any of us might find ourselves in the future.”