When she was 19, all Alex Luceli Jiménez could think about was dying. What followed was a five-year journey of troubleshooting medication cocktails, dreams about her dead father, forging and reigniting various connections with friends and family, missing and making up appointments with paid professionals, reluctantly trying out a ten-month stint as a middle school English teacher, finding a career that brings her genuine joy, spending an excessive amount of time listening to moody female singer-songwriters, and entering into her first relationship.
This Rambling Heart is a collage of nervous breakdowns, cries for attention, and reluctant nostalgia. There are no apologies in this book. As one of the opening poems says, “I want to be huge—I don’t care.”
This book is a collection of coping mechanisms that brings together 24 poems written between the ages of 19 and 24. When Alex started writing these poems, she didn’t mean to write a book—she just wanted to feel better. Alex is primarily an author of horror fiction, but time and time again, she finds herself turning to poetry in times of strife. In This Rambling Heart, you can join Alex on her five-year healing journey, starting in Berkeley, CA and ending in Marina, CA, where she now lives.
alex luceli jiménez 