Sammy’s debut book of poems how to stay afloat: the art of drowning will be published soon. Stay up to date here and on instagram @Prettypetite poems. in the meantime, read some recent reviews on the book by fellow authors.
In Samantha's collection, how to stay afloat: the art of drowning - Samantha weaves a deeply emotional narrative that drives the reader instantly. Each poem is beautifully written. I could not stop reading them. Her words are powerful and I can already imagine these poems being performed at an open mic. Samantha's voice leads us through moments of pain, joy, and reflection, ultimately inviting readers to embark on their own personal exploration. how to stay afloat: the art of drowning is a must-read for any reader!
- Celeste Alyssa Gomez, Author & Founder of La Poeta Publications
Sammy’s words are strong like the bridge city of La Puente. Her poems move like shadows, sparring with silence and breaking down walls of complacency. Rooted in community and family, her verses dance across the page with grit and grace, speaking truths that refuse to stay quiet. She doesn’t just slam poems—she slams love, memory, and everything we’re told to keep inside.
-Ceasar K Avelar (2nd poet Laureate of Pomona), author of God of the Air Hose
how to stay afloat: the art of drowning, despite its title, is an absolute breath of fresh air. Samantha “Sammy” Herrera’s debut collection is utterly unique and unafraid to challenge conceptions of love, culture, sexism and society. Her work explores these themes in profound ways, submerging you in beautiful metaphors and powerful messages that pull you deeper into the pages, thirsting for more. Sammy’s poetry washes over you in both gentle tides and the crushing force of a wave.
-Peter Lechuga, author of Myth Opportunities
Samantha Herrera’s collection how to stay afloat: the art of drowning enters each poem with “a Barbie smile and grin” as she fearlessly calls out, confronts and questions the various cruelties of the world around her, both past and present. As Herrera recognizes the aftermath of these violences, the speaker still chooses to move forward, take control and find joy in the little moments. Moments as simple as, “I made pancakes in the morning/And found myself crying/I will enjoy my breakfast/Dry up any leftover tears/And place my memories in a to go box for another day.”
—Karla Cordero, Author of How To Pull Apart The Earth
Samantha Herrera is a generational poet with a sharp tongue that slices through the noise, cutting straight to the truth. Yet, within that sharpness lies an undeniable tenderness—an invitation into the intricacies of a wounded heart, one that aches, heals, and keeps beating. how to stay afloat: the art of drowning is a force, pulling readers into experiences only Herrera can render with such vividness, rawness, and beauty. Each poem lands like a punch to the gut, shaping vignettes of a life entirely her own—yet deeply familiar to us all. Through striking imagery and masterful nuance, she crafts a world where every word carries weight, where nothing is wasted. This is a book for the children of immigrants, the heartbroken and the heartbreakers, the policymakers, the haters, the lovers, and the homies. Herrera gives voice to the voiceless–and what a voce it is.
-Alexis Jaimes, author of Corazón Coalesced
In how to stay afloat: the art of drowning, Samantha Herrera offers readers a piercing, intimate portrait of a life shaped by forces much larger than the self. Through her vivid poems, she shows how love, loss, violence, culture, memory, and language are not isolated experiences, but deeply intertwined with the world we move through — how the personal and political are never truly separate.
Herrera’s work refuses to flatten human experience into simple stories. Her poems on love, such as “muse” and “isn’t this where you met the sun?”, capture not just the joy and heartbreak of relationships, but how even private emotions are entangled with memory, art, and the drive to create meaning beyond ourselves. Love, for Herrera, is an act that connects past, present, and future — a reminder that our emotions are always in dialogue with the stories we inherit and the dreams we imagine.
When she addresses trauma, Herrera confronts the ways violence is woven into everyday life. In "boys will be boys" and "hands on fire," she illuminates how cultural excuses and gendered expectations allow harm to fester, how bodies and memories carry the marks of a society that too often looks away. These are not simply poems of individual suffering; they are testimonies about what it means to live in a world where harm is normalized and survival becomes an act of quiet rebellion.
Identity and belonging are also central concerns. In “my american tongue,” Herrera explores the disorienting experience of feeling severed from ancestral roots — not by choice, but by the pressures of assimilation, language loss, and cultural displacement. She captures the ache of navigating multiple worlds, never fully at home in either, and the quiet grief of realizing that names, languages, and traditions are not just personal markers but shared inheritances that can be both bridges and battlegrounds.
Throughout how to stay afloat: the art of drowning, Herrera reveals how deeply individuals are shaped by the worlds they inhabit — whether that world is a classroom rehearsing lockdown drills ("not a place for guns"), a culture that fails to protect its most vulnerable ("Blessed are the homies"), or a society that diminishes racism into "microaggressions" disguised as jokes. These poems lay bare how external realities etch themselves into internal landscapes, leaving scars, but also forging unexpected sources of strength.
And yet, Herrera’s work is not simply a chronicle of hurt. It is equally a testament to resilience, tenderness, and the stubborn persistence of hope. Even when love dissolves, even when belonging feels fractured, even when violence looms large, her poems find ways to rebuild from ruins — to honor what has been lost and to imagine what might yet be possible.
Herrera’s mastery of language — her ability to stitch together vivid imagery, biting critique, and raw emotion — makes each poem feel like both a private confession and a public witnessing. Her writing reminds us that we are not islands, but shaped by the rivers that run through us: history, culture, community, violence, hope.
how to stay afloat: the art of drowning is a powerful meditation on how the world marks us, challenges us, and sometimes, despite everything, teaches us to bloom. Samantha Herrera’s voice is one that deserves to be heard — clear, urgent, and unafraid to tell the complicated truths of what it means to be alive.
This is a book for anyone who has felt the weight of the world inside their own skin — and for anyone who still believes that even the most broken ground can yield something beautiful.
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In Short:
In how to stay afloat: the art of drowning, Samantha Herrera traces the deep ways that love, loss, violence, and identity are shaped by the worlds we inhabit. Her poems reveal how personal experiences are entangled with cultural expectations, language, memory, and survival. Through vivid storytelling and powerful imagery, Herrera captures how the forces around us leave their imprint on our bodies, dreams, and relationships — and how, even from fractured ground, resilience can take root. This is a collection about how we are made and remade by the world — and how we find ways to speak, remember, and rebuild.
-Prof. Ant Black aka Dr. Anthony Blacksher