Celebrating Nylda Dieppa: Poet & Friend

Greetings, readers! Today I’m happy to share work by another poet friend, Nylda Dieppa. You might remember I wrote a blog post last summer announcing the publication of her courageous memoir, Alborada (Dawn): A Cross-Cultural Memoir in Poetry. To read that detailed post about Nylda, how Undertow connected us, and her in-depth poetry, click here.

How I know Nylda

In short, I’ll say that previous post tells how Nylda and I met in Orlando in 2017 after I published my memoir, Undertow. She was hungry for in-depth information about The Way International—the bible-based cult I escaped—because her brother had been a part of it. Turns out I had known her brother, not well, but still, what are the chances?

My friendship with Nylda has grown over these past years. We’ve supported each other’s writing life continually. A couple of years ago, she offered generous feedback on poetry that appears my second book, From the Porch to the Page: A Guidebook for the Writing Life. I’m very grateful for her continued, caring friendship and the enthusiasm she brings to the writing life—it has an inspiring effect on me.

Nylda’s work

For this post, Nylda selected her poem “Prudence” to be republished here. It’s from her book Alborada (Dawn): A Cross-Cultural Memoir in Poetry. Orange Blossom Publishing. May 3, 2023. Beneath the poem is her official bio.

Prudence

Prudence is an old word,

the name of a virtue,

one of my mother’s favorites.

 

She was prudent to a fault,

biting her tongue,

looking the other way.

 

She took action

for the sake of prudence

and sometimes she didn’t.

 

A week before my wedding

Mami answered a phone call from

my fiancée’s girlfriend

who said she was pregnant.

 

She didn’t say a word to me.

 

She confronted him

and chose to believe it was a lie

and I never heard about it.

 

Now, five children later,

five lovers later,

one divorce later,

 

I wonder what would’ve happened

to my shattered life

if she had said something.

 

Nylda’s bio

Nylda Dieppa, a Puerto Rican poet and writer, learned to read at three years old and she’s loved literature and art since. She is the author of Alborada: A Poetic Memoir Across Cultures, an autobiographical collection of narrative and lyrical poems crafted throughout her life. It won a Royal Palm Award from the Florida Writers Association. The second, enhanced edition was published in 2023 as Alborada (Dawn): A Cross-Cultural Memoir in Poetry. She did the original pastel drawing for the cover of the first edition of Alborada and has degrees in philosophy, fashion design, and pastoral ministry.

Nylda’s work has been published in Cadence, “Of Poets & Poetry,”  “Somos en Escrito,” “La Respuesta,” and “America” magazines. She has read her poetry at various venues including the American University of Paris, the Polasek Museum in Winter Park, and Timucua Arts in Orlando, Florida. She has also performed at Medgar Evers College, Cornelia Street Café, and The Ear Club in New York City as well as Casa Aboy and Poet’s Passage in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She will be the featured poet at Timucua Arts on October 20, 2024.

A member of the Florida State Poets Association, Florida Writers Association (FWA), Comadres para las Américas, and International Society of Latino Authors, Nylda serves as Vice-president of the Orlando Area Poets group as well as on the board of the Florida Writers Foundation (FWF) as its Vice-president. She led the Maitland Writers Group, affiliated with FWA, for nine years and published its monthly newsletter. She is a judge for FWA’s Silver Palms Award literary contest. Nylda publishes her newsletter “Word Sketches” and FWF’s “Sunshine State Literacy Spotlight” and speaks about writing-related topics to interested groups. Her website is www.NyldaDieppa.com.

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Thanks for reading!

Your writer on the wing,

Charlene