Table of contents
Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8
Table of contents
Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8
Poem / Reflections

Debitage

Using an original poetic form, a poet chips away at a difficult history—becoming an agent of her own remaking and more than just an estranged daughter.
By jade lomas-trejo
3 Mar 2025
A gray-haired man sitting in a chair outside hits a chunk of flint stone with a hammer. The black and white photo is from 1923.

In a 1923 photo, a man flint knaps.

Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Getty Image

“Debitage” is part of the collection Poets Resist, Refuse, and Find a Way Through. Read the introduction to the collection here.

✽

Debitage

[DEB-uh-dij]
noun Archaeology
1. Lithic debris and discards found at the sites where stone tools and weapons were made.

i’d rather god
strike me down
than to have
my father
hold me
like he did
that day,
10 years ago,
talking about:
“mija, you’re
so pretty, i’d
marry you.”

i’d rather god
strike me down
than to have
my father
hold me
like he did

i’d rather god
strike me down
than to have
my father
hold me

i’d rather god
strike me down
than to have
my father

i’d rather god
strike me down
than to have

i’d rather god
strike me down

i’d rather

her

me

i

jade lomas-trejo

jade lomas-trejo is a Mexican American (Mexico City and Sinaloa) writer from Fresno, California. She is pursuing a B.A. in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and aspires to pursue a career related to museum studies. She is the poetry editor at The Berkeley Handprint.

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