The Hawk Temple at Tierra Grande
Winner, the 2003 Minnesota Book Award
Known for his superrealism and magical images born of the imagery of the Chicano/South Western culture, Ray Gonzalez gives new imagery and intensity to the mystery and common miracles of that culture. In “Tiny Doll with No Arms,” Gonzalez reassures us that the mysteries of the everyday will never be solved but will remain a source of the power of belief, the bewildering richness of what we can approach but not define: “[the doll] does not have any arms. / I don’t know why it was carved that way, / don’t know what it means, / why the invisible palms hold everything.” “Ray Gonzalez’s lyrical narratives are terse and satirical, jaunty and sober, confrontational and celebratory. His sensual maps of our lives are more than enlightening because his writing is informed by need. Ray Gonzalez writes poetry that troubles the waters and heals simultaneously.” —Yusef Komunyakaa
Savior
I look into the eyes of loved women.
I kneel and pray each week.
The difficult bird flutters out of my navel.
I'm going somewhere else.
I'm going somewhere drumming.
I don't know if it is spoken about—
When the bird leaves, I have two legs.
When I turn, I am loved.
When I stop, I'm going somewhere to be handled
by icy trees, streets that cry,
and nights that come to me
in three languages.
© BOA Editions, Ltd 2002
Available editions:
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Paperback ISBN: 1-929918-20-8
Price: $13.95
Publishing Date: May 2002
$13.95
