Poetry, memes and emo-activism of a ‘cam girl’: the millennial spirit in Fiorella Terrazas’ book

Fiorella Terrazas describes herself as “a creature of the Internet.” And there, in the triple W, she is also known as FioLoba, “intense queer poet of fluid gender, emodark-kawaii post-depressive neurodivergent transfeminist and digital communicator”, as appears on the flap of the book she just published, “Cam Girl & other poems (2017-2021) ”, edited by Dulzorada Press.

It is a selection of the texts by this Peruvian poet who has found in virtuality a field full of inexhaustible references and motivations. Memes, emojis and other viral phenomena that intersect with more “traditional” themes, to call them in some way: love, death, sadness, loneliness, etc.

“I am not the first to do this,” she clarifies, “but being a book that was born after the pandemic, it reflects the fact that now we all use technological language much more, through computers and cell phones ”.

Beyond the clicks and the screens, “Cam Girl…” is also a book marked by the pandemic in another sense: Terrazas suffered from COVID-19 herself and lost her father due to the disease. And that painful trace makes itself felt strongly on its pages, loaded with texts that fall in torrents, that deviate by tangents and are dispersed in allusions line by line, like attention deficit writing (so typical of our time too).

Regarding the need to publish this poem collected from just four years of production (in bilingual format, in addition, with the English translation by Reina Jara), Terrazas attributes it to our accelerated contemporary life. “I feel that we live super fast and I thought that it would not be convenient for my texts to wait so long. I spend a lot of my life writing and editing. Writing is part of me, like eating or breathing. Something I do for love. Just as my grandmothers embroidered or wove, I write. And surely those who will come will do some activity with the same love and fervor ”, he points out.

Terrazas recognizes an early influence from Alejandra Pizarnik (“I read it very young, when I was lucky enough to find a copy of her complete work outside the San Marcos University,” she says), and also mentions Juan Ramírez Ruiz, Jorge Eduardo Eielson and Montserrat Álvarez as referential figures. “But more than poetry I nurture myself above all science fiction, magical realism, cyberpunk, manga, anime, chats”, He warns.

It is for this reason that “Cam Girl…” can also be read as a book of dualities. “I am Gemini”, points out Terrazas, At the same time, in the prologue of the book, the Bolivian writer Lucía Carvalho places her work on the axis of roughness and vulnerability.

“I can be very fragile, very noble and sensitive, but those who know me know that I am also very strong to resist and survive terrible things,” explains Terrazas. And this is how “Cam Girl” is structured: “The first part is ‘Starvation’, which corresponds to the depressive part; then there is ‘Power’, which is the empowered part; and the third is ‘Poe-Futuro’, which eats half the book and is all my production for the future, my cover letter composed of the poems with which I feel most represented ”, she adds.

Along these lines, the title “Cam Girl” (which refers to the girls streaming and selling adult content on webcam) not only exhibits frivolity, but also serves the author to represent a generation of millennials, centennials and younger generations who seek opportunities to get ahead in an often adverse system.

“The whole concept used in the book refers to this generation that constantly needs money and spends it fast. And he also spends it as a way of escaping from reality, because reality does not satisfy him –says Terrazas–. That’s why I think ‘Cam Girl’ is not geared towards people of a specific age, but it is. to a reader who has not abandoned his youth ”.

Author: Fiorella Terrazas aka FioLoba

Pages: 262

Publisher: Dulzorada Press