Reflections through the Convex Mirror of Time / Reflexiones tras el Espejo Convexo del Tiempo: Poems in Remembrance of the Spanish Civil War / Poemas en Recuerdo de la Guerra Civil Española

by E.A. Mares, Enrique R. Lamadrid (Prologue by), Fernando Martín Pescador (Introduction), Susana Rivera (Epilogue by)

Overview

In this poignant bilingual collection, preeminent New Mexican poet E. A. "Tony" Mares posthumously shares his passionate journey into the broken heart and glimmering shadows of the Spanish Civil War, whose shock waves still resonate with the political upheavals of our own times. Mares engages in dialogue with heroes and demons, anarchists and cardinals, and beggars and poets. He takes us through the convex mirror of history to the blood-stained streets of Madrid, Guernica, and Barcelona. He interrogates the assassins of Federico García Lorca for their crimes against poetry and humanity. Throughout the collection the narrator is participant and commentator, and his language is both lyrical and direct. In addition to Mares's parallel Spanish and English poems, the book includes a prologue by Enrique Lamadrid, an introduction by Fernando Martín Pescador, and an epilogue by Susana Rivera. Lovingly shepherded and completed by friends and family, this book will appeal to Mares enthusiasts and readers interested in poetry and history, who will be glad to have this unexpected gift from a master's voice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826364302
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	08/15/2022
Series:	Mary Burritt Christiansen Poetry Series
Edition description:	Bilingual English/Spanish ed.
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

E. A. "Tony" Mares (1938-2015) was a poet, playwright, essayist, fiction writer, and historian born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is the author of The Unicorn Poem and Flowers and Songs of Sorrow, With the Eyes of a Raptor, and Astonishing Light: Conversations I Never Had with Patrociño Barela (UNM Press).

Table of Contents

Prologue / Prólogo. Ernesto Antonio Mares, ¡Presente! / Ernesto Antonio Mares, ¡Presente!
Enrique R. Lamadrid
Preface / Prefacio
E. A. "Tony" Mares
Acknowledgments / Reconocimientos
Introduction / Introducción. Remembering Tony / Recordando a Tony
Fernando Martín Pescador

I. Dark Light at the Sun's Gate / Luz tenebrosa en la Puerta del Sol
The Fallen Angel of Madrid / El ángel caído de Madrid
The Fallen Angels of Spain / Los ángeles caídos de España
The Fallen Angel of Tenerife / El ángel caído de Tenerife
The Animal Called Spain / El animal que se llama España
Couplets for the Spanish Civil War / Coplas por la Guerra Civil Española
In the Atocha Station / En la Estación de Atocha
In the Atocha Station II / En la Estación de Atocha II
Carretas, Saturday Morning / Carretas, sábado por la mañana
Another Scene on Carretas / Otra escena en Carretas
Madrid, Early Morning / Madrid, muy de mañana
Through the Curving Light / Tras la curva de luz
The Kite of Time / La cometa del tiempo
Woody at the Jarama Front / Woody en el Frente del Jarama
Miguel and His Goats / Miguel y sus cabras
Casa de Campo / Casa de Campo
It Is Better to Be Drunk / Es mejor estar borracho

II. A Poet Dies / Un poeta muere
Last Running of the Bulls / La última corrida de toros
Party Hack / Politicastro de partido
Keeping Watch over Lorca / Velando a Lorca
A Man of Little Understanding / Un hombre de poco entendimiento
The Corporal / El cabo
Churriana / Churriana
In the Curved Light / En la luz curvada
It Doesn't Matter, Fernando / No importa, Fernando
A Clever Fellow / Un tipo listo
Black Dog, Homeless Man / El perro negro y el indigente

III. Tidal Rivers of Light and Remembering / Rías de luz y del recuerdo
The Exterminating Angel of Comillas / El Ángel Exterminador de Comillas
Brilliant Like This Day / Brillante como este día
Hostal Iturrienea on Santa María Kalea, Bilbao / Hostal Iturrienea en la Kalea Santa María, Bilbao
Orchestral Piece for von Richtofen and Picasso / Pieza orquestral para von Richtofen y Picasso
Our Lady of the Pillar / La Virgen del Pilar
From Càlig to Benicarló / De Càlig a Benicarló
Isidro / Isidro
It Happened in Barcelona / Ocurrió en Barcelona
Travelers to Collioure / Viajeros a Collioure

IV. Return to Albuquerque / Volver a Albuquerque
Ángel and Me / Ángel y yo
Lincoln Brigadier in a Wheelchair / Brigadista Lincoln en su silla de ruedas
In One Sitting / De un tirón
From on High / En lo alto
Ana through the Mirror of Music / Ana tras el espejo de la música
As I Walk through la Plaza Vieja / Mientras camino por la Plaza Vieja

Epilogue / Epílogo. "A Fiercely Human Angel": E. A. "Tony" Mares and the Poetry of the Spanish Civil War / "Un ángel fieramente humano": E. A. "Tony" Mares y la poesía de la Guerra Civil Española
Susana Rivera
Bibliography / Bibliografía
E. A. "Tony" Mares
Contributors / Colaboradores

Editorial Reviews

"It is one thing to read great poetry. It is another thing altogether to read poetry by a great man: prophet, historian, mentor and friend, world traveler; a man born in a time of war who would, in his actions and writings, rage against war, dream against war. Tony Mares in all his fullness is here, in a book that must be read as the world seems again to crack open. We need Tony's voice and vision as never before. This book will be a classic, and blessed are those in whose hands this book falls."—Demetria Martinez, author of The Block Captain's Daughter

"In August 1974, with Franco still in power, I organized an exceptional poetry reading by Ángel González, myself, Tony Mares, and Enrique Lamadrid to the musical accompaniment of Xavier Ribalta, a Catalán guitarist and songwriter, to finalize a summer seminar in Spain. Ribalta was banned from performing in public, and the entire poetry reading was illegal at that time, but it was private with no publicity. Afterward, Tony continued his research and travels around Spain to observe a society in the last days of a fascist dictatorship. Tony's masterwork, this prodigious collection of poetry, in many ways began there."—Gary Brower, editor of Malpais Review and author of The Book of Knots

"In this tableau of poems, E. A. Tony Mares reconstructs the Spanish Civil War as the most iconic struggle of the twentieth century. Naming names, the poet tracks down and confronts the grand and petty players from all sides of that bloody conflict. From the refracted shards of language and the visceral, sensory details of the Spanish landscape, a towering vision emerges, leavened with the humility and humor that finally brings us home, to Tony's home, Albuquerque's Old Town Plaza."—Michael A. Thomas, author of Hat Dance

"Historical accounts through Mares's poetic visions present the poet, intellectual, and resolanero through a critical public dialogue, in a manner that evokes the conversations he overheard his parents having about the Spanish Civil War in his childhood home near La Plaza Vieja, Albuquerque's Old Town neighborhood. Mares draws the readers/eavesdroppers out of the corners and engages us to create our own musings and reminds us of the important role that poetry plays in keeping historical memory alive. The poems, illuminated by the twin flames of English and Spanish, present the same perspective but from a different angle. Or, as his camarada Tomás Atencio would say, 'Es el mismo guante, nomás que alrevez' (It is the same glove, inside out)."—Levi Romero, Inaugural New Mexico State Poet Laureate and author of A Poetry of Remembrance: New and Rejected Works

From the Publisher