Olivia Romo

Olivia Romo is an American poet, spoken word artist and water rights activist from Taos, New Mexico. Romo lives in Pojoaque, and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Also in 2019, Romo participated in Without Borders: Arte Sín Fronteras as an artist exploring borderlands. The show opened at the El Pueblo History Museum in Pueblo, Colorado, and travelled to the History of Colorado Museum in Denver.

Romo's poem, Bendición del Agua was inspired by the Acequia del Finado Francisco Martinez, an irrigation ditch that has existed in the community of Llano Quemado for centuries. Her spoken word performance of the poem is featured in a short film of the same title, produced by Daniel Sonis and New Mexico Poet Laureate, Levi Romero. The film has been screened at multiple venues including the Santa Fe Film Festival.

Romo's poem, Roadrunner: The Chosen Prophet tells the tale of blue-eyed conquistadors and invaders, and of the Native Americans who suffered from smallpox. The poem ends on with a message of reconciliation; all of this is related through observations of the state bird, the roadrunner. She has worked for the New Mexico Acequia Association doing outreach as an advisor to acequia leaders regarding bylaws, water rights and transfers.

Critical reception Romo's work has received attention from the press and was featured in the New York Times article, Work Songs of the Cowboy Poets. In the article, the writer Jared Stanley describes her poem, Chaquegüe, as an homage to blue corn porridge (similar to atole), a basic staple in New Mexican cuisine. The food becomes a metaphor for traditions such as the corn harvest and New Mexican Chicano culture, while highlighting water disputes within rural communities as well as large western cities. The Elko Daily Free Press describes her work and the film, Bendicion del Agua as an "awakening for younger generations to honor ancestral traditions that help lead to a sustainable future through acts of charity, respect, resiliency and a regard for water." Howard Yune has written in the Napa Valley Register that Romo's work as a "combination of loneliness and freedom" that brings to life "stories of lonely windswept plains, muscular horses and cattle roundups".

Honors In 2011 Romo was honored as the New Mexico State Champion of Slam Poetry. In 2017 she was named Nevada's first Poet in Residence, an honor sponsored by Nevada Humanities.