ABOUT THIS BOOK

In verses that fuse highly original imagery with exuberant rhythms, Efraín Huerta probes the cultures of both Mexico and "el Norte," from the impact of racism in Mississippi to political corruption in Mexico. Since he demanded for life and art the same freedom he demanded for politics, his poetry is often erotic. His poems are passionate outcries to love and justice, characterized by original metaphors and an acerbic wit that earned him the nickname "Crocodile."

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

EFRAÍN HUERTA was born was born in Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico in 1914. As a poet, he published regularly from the 1930s to the 1980s, and as a journalist collaborated with over twenty newspapers and journals, under his own name and using pseudonyms. He died in Mexico City in 1982. During his lifetime he received many honors and awards, including the Palmas Academicas in France in 1945, the Villaurrutia Poetry prize in 1975, and the National Journalism Prize in 1978. 500,000 Azaleas, published with the support of the U.S.-Mexico Fund, is the first collection of his poetry in English.

JACK HIRSCHMAN is a San Francisco poet, translator, and editor. He is the author of numerous books of poetry, plus some 45 translations from a half a dozen languages, as well as the editor of anthologies and journals.

JIM NORMINGTON is a Northern California poet and translator.

REVIEWS

". . . the genuine passion reflected in Huerta's ecstatic use of language never escapes a reckoning with reality. . ." —Publishers Weekly

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"Blood, anguish, loss, anger, love and fear—Huerta is a friend to all strong feelings." —The Café Review

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". . . Efraín Huerta's work comes to us as intense, challenging, and youthful as ever. Yes, these poems proclaim the liberating morals of the senses." —Francisco X. Alarcón, author of Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems— -

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword by Ilan Stavans

Ordenes de Amor
Love Commands

Ternura
Tenderness

La Ausente
The Missing One

La Raiz Amarga
The Bitter Root

La Muchacha Ebria
The Drunken Girl

Mi Pais, Oh Mi Pais!
My Country, Oh My Country!

Acerca de la Melancolia
With Regard to Melancholy

Alabama en Flor
Alabama in Bloom

Cancion
Song

Lake Charles, LA
Lake Charles, Louisiana

Nocturno del Mississippi
Mississippi Nocturne

La Lluvia
Rain

El Caballo Rojo
The Red Horse

Los Fantasmas
Phantoms

Hotel El Colony
The Colony Hotel

Canto al Petroleo Mexicano
Song to Mexican Petroleum

Elegia de la Policia Montada
Elegy for the Mounted Police

El Tajin
El Tajin

Declaracion de Odio
Declaration of Hate

Avenida Juarez
Juarez Avenue

Dolorido Canto a la Iglesia Catolica y
a Quienes en Ella Suelen Confiar
Grieving song to the Catholic Church and
to Those Accustomed to Trusting Her

Despliegue de Asombros ante un Dios
Unfurling of Amazements before God

Rio San Lorenzo
The San Lorenzo River

Los Hombres del Alba
The Men of Dawn

La Doncella
The Virgin

Desconcierto
Confusion

Ominosa
Ominous Thought

Mansa Hiperbole
Tame Hyperbole

Che
Che

Problema del Alma
Problems of the Soul

La Traicion General
Widespread Betrayal

Cantata para el Che Guevara
Cantata for Che Guevara

Esto se Llama los Incendios
This is Called the Burning Flames

Matar a un Poeta Cuando Duerme
The Murder of a Poet While Sleeping

Presencia de Federico Garcia Lorca
The Presence of Federico Garcia Lorca

Esa Sangre
That Blood

Ellos Estan Aqui
Here They Are

Declaracion de Amor
Declaration of Love

El Viejo y la Polyvora
The Old One and the Gunpowder

Silabas por el Maxilar de Franz Kafka
Syllables for the Jawbone of Franz Kafka

Cancion de la Doncella del Alba
Song for the Maiden of the Dawn

Los Ruidos del Alba
The Clamor of Dawn

Elegia de la Rosa Blanca
Elegy for a White Rose

Alba Desde una Estrella
Dawn from a Star

Borrador para un Testamento
Sketch for a Last Will and Testament

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