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Overview
"Rios evokes the mysterious and unexpected forces that dwell inside the familiar."—The Washington Post
"Ríos delivers another stunning book of poems, rich in impeccable metaphors, that revel in the ordinariness of morning coffee and the crackle of thunderous desert storms. In one sonnet, Ríos addresses injustice in the borderlands, capturing with mathematical precision the everyday struggles that many migrants face—'The border is an equation in search of an equals sign.' A series of sonnets about desert flora abounds with fantastic, magical imagery—'Bougainvilleas do not bloom—they bleed' and 'Apricots are eggs laid in trees by invisible golden hens.' Likewise, Ríos's bestiary sonnets overflow with inimitable similes, worthy of a book unto themselves—'Minnows are where a river’s leg has fallen asleep' and 'Gnats are sneezes still flying around.' This robust volume is the perfect place to start for readers new to Ríos and a prize for seasoned fans."—Booklist
In his thirteenth book, Alberto Rios casts an intense desert light on the rich stories unfolding along the Mexico-US border. Peppered with Spanish and touches of magical realism, ordinary life and its simple props—morning showers, spilled birdseed, winter lemons—becomes an exploration of mortality and humanity, and the many possibilities of how lives might yet be lived.
Mad Honey
Made from magnificent rhododendron, poisonous rhododendron,
Very difficult-to-pronounce rhododendron—whatever
Rhododendron even is—I would have to look it up myself,
This word sounding puffed up, peacocky with its
Indianapolisly-long spelling, all those letters moving in and out.
But the plant itself, the plant and the bees that find it:
The bees see in its purple flower, first, a purple flower.
They do not spell it. They do not live in fear of quizzes,
Purple offering what it has to offer, unapologetic, without further
Definition, purple irresistible to the artist's and to the bee's eye—
Who can blame either one this first-grade impulse toward love?
Purple, always wearing something low-cut . . .
Alberto Rios is the Poet Laureate of Arizona and host of the PBS program Books & Co. He was a finalist for the National Book Award for his poetry volume The Smallest Muscle in the Human Body. He teaches at Arizona State University and lives in Chandler, Arizona.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781556594793 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Copper Canyon Press |
| Publication date: | 08/04/2015 |
| Pages: | 110 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
1 They hide very well
Sunday Dinner at Tuesday Breakfast 5
Morning, Just 6
Sudden Smells, Sudden Songs 7
Leaves and Leaves 8
Dark Rubies in a Pirate's Chest 10
When There Were Ghosts 12
Me Showering 13
Small Town Cashews 15
Winter Lemons 17
Where Sleep Is 18
The Thirst of Things 20
Our Second Lives 21
The Half-Brother Sciences 23
Looking Across the Line 25
On Gathering Artists 29
Desert Bestiary Sonnet, One 31
When Giving Ts All We Have 32
Desert Flora Sonnet, One 33
Who's That Good-Looking Pie Chart Walking Down the Hall? 34
Desert Bestiary Sonnet, Two 35
Stardust and Centuries 36
An Instruction to Myself 36
2 Oh, us.
A Small Story about the Sky 41
Short Stories 44
A Winter Afternoon, Night Coming 45
At Ease 46
That Woman Who Used to Sit Here All Those Years 47
Secrets of the Curandera 50
The Flour Man 53
Who Has Need, I Stand with You 55
The Beetles and the Crows 56
One Thursday Afternoon: Magdalena, Sonora, 1939 57
November 2: Día de los muertos 58
Me the Man in a Hurry 61
The Border: A Double Sonnet 63
Mad Honey 65
Lemon-Light 67
3 We let them go
We Dogs of a Thursday Off 71
Two Men 72
Not Me 73
My Criminal Notebook 74
Dry Water 76
The Fence 77
Before Sleep 78
Weekend Weather 79
She Uncovered Her Breasts for Me 80
Words in the Woods 83
The Feather in Search of Its Bird 84
The Border Before 85
The Middleman 86
Water Flower 88
How the Sky Is Made 90
Poems of Public Purpose A mountain lion asks permission with its teeth
Epithalamium: Next to Me 93
Desert Flora Sonnet, Two 94
Epithalamium: The Map of Us 95
Desert Bestiary Sonnet, Three 96
Epithalamium: Breathlessness 97
Desert Flora Sonnet, Three 98
The Circus in the Desert: Philip Curtis 99
Knowledge Neighbors 101
4 Something is always broken
Medicalarium 105
Charm String 108
One of the Two of Me 109
Border Lines 110
Líneas Fronterizas 111
The Who That I Am 112
One Morning at the End of the Cold Months 113
More than Once 115
On Waking, If Waking 116
Hands on the Wall of a Church 117
Understanding the Black-Tailed Jackrabbit 118
Citizens of a Great Country 120
Dentist, Mexico, 1959 121
October Rain 122
The Broken 123
About the Author 125