Maraca

by Cruz, Victor Hernandez

• ISBN13: 9781566891226
• ISBN10: 1566891221
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-01
• Publisher: Coffee House Pr

Summary

Seeds of imagination turn into magical rhythms in this collection spanning thirty-five years. Born in Puerto Rico in 1949, Victor Hernandez Cruz moved to New York at the age of six, but he has retained the memories of hearing the men in his family read novels and poems aloud as they rolled cigars in the steamy Caribbean heat. These tropical and urban vistas have informed a body of work that has dazzled readers since a twenty-year-old Cruz exploded onto the national scene with Snaps (Random House). Cruz has become an important exponent of the use of "Spanglish" in contemporary literature, and his appearance on the Bill Moyers's Language of Life PBS series has cemented his reputation as one of the significant poets of our time. Also Available by Victor Hernandez Cruz: Panaramas PB $12.95, 1-56689-066-7 a?? CUSA Red Beans and Rice PB $12.95, 0-918273-91-9 a?? CUSA

Table of Contents

1966
Glow Flesh	4	(2)
A Poem for Downtown	6	(1)
The Mystery	7	(2)
Beyond Coney Islands	9	(2)
from Papo Got His Gun
The Land	11	(1)
11:30 in the Park	12	(1)
Carmen	13	(2)
1967-1968
The Music Is Like Search	15	(1)
Piano-Piano-Piano	16	(2)
Final Poem	18	(1)
Out in the World	19	(2)
The Story of the Zeros	21	(1)
boricuas & blacks	22	(3)
from Snaps (1969)
White Powder I	25	(1)
Today Is a Day of Great Joy	26	(1)
Snag	27	(1)
Going Uptown to Visit Miriam	28	(2)
Cities	30	(3)
latin & soul	33	(2)
Born to Be Burned	35	(2)
Megalopolis	37	(1)
The Eye Uptown & Downtown	38	(4)
/ Moving /	42	(4)
Ritmo I	46	(2)
from Mainland (1973)
#3 Business	48	(1)
Thursday	49	(2)
Los New Yorks	51	(2)
Discovery	53	(2)
Berkeley/Over	55	(2)
Part Four	57	(1)
California #2	58	(1)
The Sounds of Colors	59	(2)
Interstate 80	61	(3)
Nebraska	64	(1)
african things	65	(1)
Loiza Aldea	66	(2)
The Man Who Came to the Last Floor	68	(7)
from Tropicalization (1976)
from New York Potpourri	75	(3)
The Latest Latin Dance Craze	78	(1)
Entro	79	(2)
Three Songs from the 50s	81	(3)
1978-1990
Untitled	84	(2)
[It is the year 1125]	86	(1)
Dreams and forms	87	(3)
[Do you need balcony fish]	90	(2)
Na	92	(3)
Caribbean Glances	95	(1)
Is It Certain or Is It Not Certain Caso Maravilla	96	(4)
Matterative	100	(3)
The Perfect Rose	103	(2)
The Sound of Love	105	(1)
Financial Report	106	(1)
The Cruelty of Love	107	(1)
Lunequisticos	108	(2)
Visibility o	110	(2)
from By Lingual Wholes (1982)
Anonymous	112	(1)
Art-This	113	(2)
Geography of the Trinity Corona	115	(4)
Ironing Goatskin	119	(1)
Two Guitars	120	(1)
Mountain Building	121	(2)
The Physics of Ochun	123	(5)
Here Is an Ear Hear	128	(1)
Groenburgewal Straat	129	(2)
Borinkins in Hawaii	131	(6)
from Red Beans (1991)
Red Means	137	(1)
Snaps of Immigration	138	(2)
New/Aguas Buenas/Jersey	140	(4)
Scarlet Skirt	144	(4)
Problems with Hurricanes	148	(1)
An Essay on William Carlos Williams	149	(1)
Areyto	150	(5)
1993
El Poema de lo Reverso	155	(1)
Iliacion	156	(3)
Ajonjoli	159	(1)
Dimensions of a Linguist	160	(1)
Red Beans	161	(1)
Suite	162	(4)
from Letters from the Island (1995--2000)
[This is my lelolai]	166	(2)
[Rain]	168	(1)
[There was a pirate]	169	(2)
Kairi : Painting	171	(2)
from White Table	173	(3)
Root of Three	176	(3)
Espanol Caribe (1996--1999)
Federico Garcia Lorca	179	(3)
De Tres Raices	182	(2)
Bobadilla, Espana	184	(5)
Poema Chicano	189	(5)
from Panoramas (1997)
The Lower East Side of Manhattan	194	(6)
It's Miller Time	200	(4)
Mesa Blanca	204	(10)
Panoramas	214	(19)
Atmospheric Phenomenon: The Art of Hurricanes	233	(6)
Time Zones	239	(3)
If You See Me in L.A. It's Because I'm Looking for the Airport	242	(5)
Seeds (1996--2000)
Muhyi-din Ibn' Arabi	247	(3)
Nabokov	250	(2)
Juan Gris: Poem with Still Life	252	(2)
Cantinflas	254	(2)
Jose Marti	256	(3)
Jalalu'd-Din Rumi	259	(3)
La Lupe	262	(2)
Machito	264	(2)
Benny More	266	(3)
Frank Sinatra	269	(2)
Kobayashi Issa	271	(2)
Mark Twain	273	(2)
Miles Davis	275	(2)
Washington Irving	277	(2)
Clarable the Clown	279	(4)
Federico Garcia Lorca	283	(3)
Juan Rulfo	286	(2)
Camaron de la Isla	288	(2)
Jack Kerouac	290	(2)
Moroccan Children	292	(7)
Title Index	299