Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed
The new winner of the Paz Prize for Poetry, granted by the National Poetry Series, is the author’s impressionistic homage to his hometown of Colima, Mexico.

Translated by Sean Manning.

"In this remarkable bilingual debut...Pérez-Cortés cracks open the name of his hometown, Colima, to generate a vast mythology...The side-by-side presentation of the original Spanish and its English translation adds another layer to this engrossing volume."
Booklist

Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed is Alejandro Pérez-Cortés’s personal genesis of Colima, Mexico, published here in both English and Spanish. The tree is an element/character in the book that appears and disappears throughout. Some poems are set in an ancient pre-Hispanic Colima; others reflect the reality of a modern-day Colima, sadly stigmatized and eroded by violence perpetrated by the narcos.

In his introduction, preeminent Cuban poet José Kozer praises Pérez-Cortés: "Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed comprises a voice that I consider poetic and that should be cared for and listened to with true interest. A voice that encompasses all, one that seeks to integrate, remake, and modify normative language when necessary, and to distort language that allows a better perception of the present and of everything that is historically behind a contemporary poet."

The Paz Prize for Poetry is presented by the National Poetry Series and Miami Book Fair at Miami Dade College and is awarded biennially. Named in the spirit of the late Nobel Prize–winning poet Octavio Paz, it honors a previously unpublished book of poetry written originally in Spanish by an American resident.

"1139655275"
Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed
The new winner of the Paz Prize for Poetry, granted by the National Poetry Series, is the author’s impressionistic homage to his hometown of Colima, Mexico.

Translated by Sean Manning.

"In this remarkable bilingual debut...Pérez-Cortés cracks open the name of his hometown, Colima, to generate a vast mythology...The side-by-side presentation of the original Spanish and its English translation adds another layer to this engrossing volume."
Booklist

Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed is Alejandro Pérez-Cortés’s personal genesis of Colima, Mexico, published here in both English and Spanish. The tree is an element/character in the book that appears and disappears throughout. Some poems are set in an ancient pre-Hispanic Colima; others reflect the reality of a modern-day Colima, sadly stigmatized and eroded by violence perpetrated by the narcos.

In his introduction, preeminent Cuban poet José Kozer praises Pérez-Cortés: "Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed comprises a voice that I consider poetic and that should be cared for and listened to with true interest. A voice that encompasses all, one that seeks to integrate, remake, and modify normative language when necessary, and to distort language that allows a better perception of the present and of everything that is historically behind a contemporary poet."

The Paz Prize for Poetry is presented by the National Poetry Series and Miami Book Fair at Miami Dade College and is awarded biennially. Named in the spirit of the late Nobel Prize–winning poet Octavio Paz, it honors a previously unpublished book of poetry written originally in Spanish by an American resident.

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Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed

Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed

by Alejandro Pérez-Cortés
Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed

Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed

by Alejandro Pérez-Cortés

Hardcover

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Overview

The new winner of the Paz Prize for Poetry, granted by the National Poetry Series, is the author’s impressionistic homage to his hometown of Colima, Mexico.

Translated by Sean Manning.

"In this remarkable bilingual debut...Pérez-Cortés cracks open the name of his hometown, Colima, to generate a vast mythology...The side-by-side presentation of the original Spanish and its English translation adds another layer to this engrossing volume."
Booklist

Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed is Alejandro Pérez-Cortés’s personal genesis of Colima, Mexico, published here in both English and Spanish. The tree is an element/character in the book that appears and disappears throughout. Some poems are set in an ancient pre-Hispanic Colima; others reflect the reality of a modern-day Colima, sadly stigmatized and eroded by violence perpetrated by the narcos.

In his introduction, preeminent Cuban poet José Kozer praises Pérez-Cortés: "Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed comprises a voice that I consider poetic and that should be cared for and listened to with true interest. A voice that encompasses all, one that seeks to integrate, remake, and modify normative language when necessary, and to distort language that allows a better perception of the present and of everything that is historically behind a contemporary poet."

The Paz Prize for Poetry is presented by the National Poetry Series and Miami Book Fair at Miami Dade College and is awarded biennially. Named in the spirit of the late Nobel Prize–winning poet Octavio Paz, it honors a previously unpublished book of poetry written originally in Spanish by an American resident.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781636140704
Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd.
Publication date: 12/07/2021
Pages: 254
Product dimensions: 6.30(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Alejandro Pérez-Cortés was born in Colima, Mexico. His poems and short stories have been published in various Mexican newspapers. Pérez-Cortés's first English poems appeared in the anthology Soundings from the Salish Sea: A Pacific Northwest Poetry Anthology. He holds an MFA from New Mexico State University with an emphasis on Spanish-American literature, and currently teaches Spanish at North Creek High School in Washington State.

Table of Contents

Introducción: Alejandro Pérez-Cortés o los deslizamientos de José Kozer 10

UNO: Ima y Coli son el árbol que nunca fue semilla (Las nueve tablillas de piedra) 22

Un árbol que nunca fue semilla 24

Un árbol se mece en la soga de un ahorcado 28

Olvidar requiere del fuego 30

Una señal de mal augurio 32

El viejo con cara de perro Xoloitzcuintle 34

Aullidos que no conocieron lobo 36

Cuando un árbol se enamora de un incendio 38

En Ima nacieron los instrumentos de cuerda 40

En Coli nacieron los instrumentos de viento 42

El agua contra la Tierra 44

DOS: El narco, plata o plomo, los antipoemas 48

Érase una vez un árbol 50

Si no es la pólvora y la sangre, qué es? 54

La Tierra es plana 60

El cuervo no quiere volar 64

Mojada la levantaron mojada nos la regresan 66

No son piedras son cabezas 68

Los niños 72

El viento 76

TRES: Año dos mil veinte 80

La noche de mañana 82

George Floyd 88

Poema de dudosas cualidades 92

Balance de mi cuenta de cheques 98

El hombre que bebe plomo hirviendo 102

Vendiendo la casa 106

Jonatán nunca se ahogó, Jonatán se convirtió en faro 108

And canción de las fábricas 112

Pueblo que ayer me dibujaron mi abuela Irene y mi abuelo Tino 118

CUATRO: Carta para hacer sonreír a mi madre 122

Mutarás según lo escrito: canto eres y en neblina te convertirás 124

Mentía con la cama en mira 128

Alguien que lee esta línea ha visto llover en Seattle? 130

Pocos son los goleadores que saben esto: en la cumber se gesta el abismo 132

Lloro como niña que rasgó su vesrido favorito 134

Mi madre aún no es neblina 136

Por ahora soy un hombre con los brazos amputados 138

CINCO: Mi regreso a Colima 140

Cuando me fui llevé conmigo 142

Uno empieza a ser otro 144

El papelito 148

Verbo o Flor? 152

Tienes idea de lo que pasa si me entierras? 156

Me acordaba que yo tenia mala memoria 158

La hija más hermosa de todas las orquídeas 162

Los objetos reflejados en el espejo lateral del carro 166

Quemranza: Quemarse en la Esperanza 174

De los días cuando yo era un parrido de fútbol empatado a cero 178

La última vez 182

SEIS: Dibujos para la hija que un día tendré 186

Te dibujo 188

Para definir la tarde 192

Cuando para ti 194

Te confieso esto 198

Legrado 202

SIETE: El perro de Pávlov 206

Primera lección escolar en el primer año de escuela primaria 208

Pávlov amaba a sus perros 210

Par de pecios 214

Invéntate un nombre que signifique "no regreses" 220

Los domingos a las tres de la tarde 224

Alejando Alejado Alado voy volando 228

OCHO: Las palabras que uno escucha en la calle 232

Estoy curado de espantos 234

Reincidencias 236

Como cuervos que crias y nunca te sacan los ojos 238

Las cosas 240

El gusto es mío jurado calificador: soy una botella quebrada 242

Introduction: Alejandro Pérez-Cartés or Slipping Contours José Kozer 11

1 Ima and Coli Are the Tree That Was Never a Seed (The Nine Stone Tablets) 23

A Trée That Was Never a Seed 25

A Tree Sways in a Hanged Man's Noose 29

Forgetting Demands Fire 31

A Bad Omen 33

The Old Man with the Face of a Xoloitzcuintle Dog 35

Howls That Never Knew the Wolf 37

When a Tree Falls in Love with a Fire 39

In Ima Stringed Instruments Were Born 41

In Coli Wind Instruments Were Born 43

Water Versus Earth 45

2 The Narco, Silver or Lead, the Antipoems 49

There Was Once a Tree 51

If It Is Not the Gunpowder and the Blood, What Is It? 55

The Earth Is Flat 61

The Raven Doesn't Want to Fly 65

Wet When They Took It from Us Wet They'd Better Return It 67

Those Aren't Stones They're Heads 69

The Children 73

The Wind 77

3 The Year Two Thousand and Twenty 81

Tomorrow Night 83

George Floyd 89

Poem of Dubious Merit 93

My Checking Account Balance 99

The Man Who Drinks Lead, Boiling 103

Selling the House 107

Jonathan Never Drowned, Jonathan Became a Lighthouse 109

The Factory Antisong 113

Village That Yesterday My Grandmother Irene and Grandfather Tino Sketched for Me 119

4 A Letter to Put a Smile on My Mother's Face 123

You Will Change as It Has Been Written: You Are Song and Mist You Will Become 125

I Lied with My Sights Set on the Bed 129

Has Anyone Reading this Line Seen It Rain in Seattle? 131

Few Goal Scorers Know This: The Abyss Is Conceived at the Peak 133

I'm Crying Like a Girl Who's Torn Her Favorite Dress 135

My Mother Is Not Yet Mist 137

For Now I Am a Man with Severed Arms 139

5 My Return to Colima 141

When I Left I Took with Me 143

One Begins to Be Someone Else 145

The Slip of Paper 149

Verb or Flower? 153

Do You Have Any Idea What Will Happen If You Bury Me? 157

I Remembered I Had a Bad Memory 159

The Loveliest Daughter of All the Orchids 163

Objects Reflected in the Side-View Mirror 167

Hopeburn: Burnt by Hope 175

From the Days When I Was a Soccer Match Tied at Zero 179

The Last Time 183

6 Drawings for the Daughter I Will One Day Have 187

I Draw You 189

To Define the Evening 193

When for You 195

This I Confess to You 199

Curettage 203

7 Pavlov's Dog 207

The First Lesson of the First Year of Elementary School 209

Pavlov Loved His Dogs 211

Two Pieces of Wreckage 215

Think Up a Name for Yourself that Means "Don't Come Back" 221

Sundays at Three in the Afternoon 225

Alexical Alexic Alar I'm Flying 229

8 Words Heard on the Street 233

I'm Over My Fears 235

Relapses 237

Like Ravens You Raise and Who Never Pluck Out Your Eyes 239

Things 241

The Pleasure Is Mine Esteemed Panel: I Am a Broken Bottle 243

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