Benitez began writing her collection with memories of her beloved Nana

By Keira Silver

Elodia Benitez, a Gilroy native, with a copy of her poetry book that was inspired in part by her Nana.
Photo by Keira Silver

Elodia Esperanza Benitez created a memorable legacy for Gilroy by honoring her childhood in her poetry book, My Nana’s Hands.

The Latina’s recently published book serves as a tender ode to Garlic City, with elegant lines honoring the sights, sounds, and people of the South Valley. Her poems illustrate the powerful influence a hometown can have on a person’s sense of self.

“I would say my roots here in Gilroy are really strong,” the 26-year-old poet said.

A Mount Madonna Continuation School grad, Benitez first explored poetry through creative writing. She focused on this form when she met other Gilroy locals involved in dance, art, and poetry, she said.

“I felt myself getting pulled toward experimenting with my writing style,” she said. “In my own writing, I started to play with rhythm and meter and a pattern.”

Rosanna Alvarez, a San Jose State University Chicano studies professor and friend of Benitez, encouraged her to share her work with others.

“One of the great things about poetry is the connection you make with people,” Benitez said. “I started branching out and sharing what I was writing. And I was getting a lot of positive feedback, but also structural feedback, which I like even more because I love to hear things that help me grow.”

She soon had a collection of poems that told a story, specifically of her Nana’s life. The idea of her work taking shape encouraged her, Benitez said.

“At the time, I was using poetry also as an emotional outlet for grief, just through a lot of traumatic experiences I had been through . . . particularly of my grandmother, my Nana,” she said. “It started to become a way of memorializing those precious memories. It took on a bigger importance than just my creative outlet. It started becoming its own memorial in a way.”

Benitez wanted to share how important her Nana was to her. It provided her with the courage she might not have had otherwise to get her work published, she said.

“In the meantime, I was also submitting these independent pieces through literary magazines and creative outlets,” she said. “I was establishing myself and my career as a poet while I was writing this.”

Benitez’s poems have been showcased in EASTSIDE Magazine in San Jose. She believes her work gathered momentum on its own, which helped lead her to meet her publisher.

“I was meeting all these actual poets and writers, and that was galvanizing me to continue,” she said. “I connected with the publisher of Riot of Roses, Brenda Vaca, while at the Panamanian International Film Festival in Southern California. Once we started getting to know each other and forming this sort of creative relationship, I submitted the first draft of My Nana’s Hands to her. And we’ve been working in tandem for a little less than a year to get it out.”

The purpose of Benitez’s work is human connection. Her shared, “intensely personal” pieces can connect with readers’ own experiences in life.

“If it touches on something very personal in their own lives, then it’s fulfilled the mission of the book,” she said. “That elevates it to something more than myself.”

Benitez feels connected to the spirit of Gilroy. The community’s rural environment shapes the people who grow up here, she said.

“Gilroy is my home,” she said. “It’s the place that’s raised me, it’s the place where I’ve had so many experiences . . . My Nana, who was also from here, lived a majority of her life here until her later years. I had to make those call-outs to Gilroy.”

Benitez wants her family, friends, and community to read her book and make those same connections. She first shared her work with her loved ones. Her Nana was able to enjoy Benitez’s work with her granddaughter. Familial support contributed to her success.

“Even now, with the publishing of this book, they were some of the first people to buy and support this collection,” she said. “That gave me the courage to start branching out and sharing it with the wider public.”

She appreciates how the poet Maya Angelou brought her loved ones with her to events. Benitez feels a similar connection with her own work.

“Whenever I do a reading or whenever I send in a piece of work, there’s this idea everybody who has ever loved me is behind the action or is right there supporting me,” she said.

For Benitez, the most important idea for any writer is to share it first with those who love them.

“Let that support and let that unconditional love bolster your courage to put it out there in the wider world,” she said.

Keira Silver is a senior at Christopher High School. She wrote this story with mentoring from publisher Marty Cheek.