Night-Blooming Jasmin(N)E: Personal Essays and Poetry

Memoir | Artwork By: Esperanza Gama | Arte Publico Press | Adults

"Méndez's stories are at once gripping and achingly generous." —Elizabeth Acevedo, author of The Poet X

For Jasminne Méndez, pericardial effusion and pericarditis are not just an abnormal accumulation of fluid and increased inflammation around the heart. It’s what happens “when you stifle the tears and pain of a miscarriage, infertility and chronic illness for so long that your heart does the crying for you until it begins to drown because its tears have nowhere to go.”

Diagnosed with scleroderma at 22 and lupus just six years later, her life becomes a roller coaster of doctor visits, medical tests and procedures. In this stirring collection of personal essays and poetry, Méndez shares her story, writing about encounters with the medical establishment, experiences as an Afro Latina and longing for the life she expected but that eludes her.