Why do we do the things we do when we’re young? Brenda Cárdenas recalls nights sneaking out of the house as a teenager, looking for highs, looking for company. “Why would you do that?” is the adult question throughout the poem. “Why wouldn’t I?” is a reply.Brenda Cárdenas is the author of the poetry collection <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/10066/9781636280936">Trace</a> (Red Hen Press, 2023). Cárdena’s works include <a href="https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/boomerang_brenda-cardenas/2926481/#edition=6263412&idiq=7094527">Boomerang</a> (Bilingual Press, 2009), the chapbook Bread of the Earth/The Last Colors (Decentralized Publications, 2011), co-authored with her husband Roberto Harrison, and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tongues-Brick-Stone-Brenda-Cardenas/dp/0971046565">From the Tongues of Brick and Stone</a> (Momotombo Press, 2005). She also co-edited <a href="https://www.spuytenduyvil.net/resist-much-obey-little.html">Resist Much/Obey Little: Inaugural Poems to the Resistance</a> (Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2017) and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Between-Heart-Entre-Corazone-Tierra/dp/1877636185">Between the Heart and the Land: Latina Poets in the Midwest</a> (MARCH/Abrazo Press, 2001). She has served as faculty for the CantoMundo writers’ retreat and as Milwaukee Poet Laureate. She currently teaches creative writing and Latinx literature at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.<a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/brenda-cardenas-this-is-why/#transcript">Find the transcript</a> for this show at onbeing.org.We’re pleased to offer <a href="https://onbeing.org/poetry/this-is-why">Brenda Cárdenas’s poem</a>, and invite you to <a href="http://poetryunbound.org">connect with Poetry Unbound</a> throughout this season.

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