Review: Sueño
Author: Lorna Dee Cervantes
pages: 132 pages
Spending some time
with Lorna Dee Cervantes in my
truck. She's tossing pecan shells out the window as I turn the pages of her
dreams. It's 65 degrees with a wind that blows through our conversation as she
braids her hair showing me her heart-shaped scars that tell of wet feet and a
milk that does not lie.
I can carry this
great Chicana with me wherever I go. Opening up the pages to Sueño, her fifth
major collection of poems-I savored each poem and read each one over again. In
"Fear of Death" I found myself gasping for Marta, "Martha had a
fear of death, she wouldn't sleep for the child still caught in her
throat..." Sueño does that! The words jumped out at me and gave me
fortaleza as a poet, just as Langston Hughes and Juan Felipe Herrera have.
Lorna held nothing
back. She peeled the skin off of mother earth inside out, wrote about it,
stitched it back together and still has enough poetic prowess to continue the
mastery of language. Brain food made with tortillas de maíz, the slap I felt in
Language from her grandmother and her true Leo self shells out a powerful poem
with Hips Hitting The Floor.
The ode to her love
in Intergrity shows her wisdom and heart as a poet and lover, "I love the
way we fit together as if I were your seed." There was never a time after
reading this book, whether in spurts or long coffee shop visits, that I did not
put it down and smile. Cervantes weaves the Native back into us with her
selflessness, wisdom and energy.
Learn how good sleep
sounds, Dulces Sueños!
-Edward Vidaurre
*Published on La Tolteca Zine Spring 2014 issue
La Tolteca ‘Zine, Spring Solstice 2014 ¡Sí se puede!
A literary arts magazine that promotes the advancement of a world without borders and censorship. Theme: The Politics of Water. Sonnet Contest Winners, and Workshopistas’ Palette.
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