Description
Poems from a critically acclaimed Cuban writer available in English for the first time.
Imbued with a sensuality reminiscent of the work of Anais Nin, Wendy Guerra's Delicates takes readers on an exhilarating journey through the cities of love, where women leave their bodies "in the showers of men," marking their territory "like animals in heat," their panties "saturated with sand and a sidereal isolating odor." Guerra's shocking metaphors and images invite us to enter her gallery of striking and provoking poems where we witness a flight through the air from a thirty-fourth-story window and a woman's pilgrimage to the salt flats "to taste the pink in stones" on her lover's behalf. Guerra's relationship with her native Cuba-much like her relationships with men-is complex and multilayered. Her work confronts the realities of a political system that doesn't celebrate artistic freedom. Here we have a new way of looking at a woman, an artist, a country, and the colonizers of that country. In these music-infused poems, Guerra shares with us her hard-won truths.
About the Author
Wendy Guerra is a poet and novelist whose books include the novels I Was Never the First Lady and the poetry collections Platea a oscuras, Cabeza rapada, and Ropa interior. Nancy Naomi Carlson is a poet, translator, and essayist. Her translations include Khal Torabully's Cargo Hold of Stars: Coolitude. Esperanza Hope Snyder is a poet, novelist, and translator. She is the author of several books, including Esperanza and Hope.
Reviews
"Guerra is a Cuban poet who takes the island's colonial history as a subject and expands it into other contexts like the dynamics of erotic relationships." * New York Times *
"Guerra boldly rifts and morphs her imagery on her way to dramatic endings in poems ranging from the volcanic sex of 'From Pompeii' to other intimate and political exiles. The result is a restless and provocative interrogation of power." * LitHub *
"What a gift this volume is-the first of Guerra's collections to appear in English-a labor of love from Carlson and Snyder 13 years in the making. Sensuous and passionate, the poems in Delicates sing the praises of bodily pleasure and push against the constraints imposed on the human spirit, whether by autocratic governments or puritanical social mores." * Washington Independent Review of Books *
"Cuban poet and novelist Guerra's work has not often been translated into English, so this volume is a welcome gift to Anglophone readers. . . The range of emotions and tones in Delicates speak to the comprehensiveness of Guerra's poetic approach: a compelling book of longing and loss." * The Millions *
Book Information
ISBN 9781803091662
Author Wendy Guerra
Format Paperback
Page Count 72
Imprint Seagull Books London Ltd
Publisher Seagull Books London Ltd
Imbued with a sensuality reminiscent of the work of Anais Nin, Wendy Guerra's Delicates takes readers on an exhilarating journey through the cities of love, where women leave their bodies "in the showers of men," marking their territory "like animals in heat," their panties "saturated with sand and a sidereal isolating odor." Guerra's shocking metaphors and images invite us to enter her gallery of striking and provoking poems where we witness a flight through the air from a thirty-fourth-story window and a woman's pilgrimage to the salt flats "to taste the pink in stones" on her lover's behalf. Guerra's relationship with her native Cuba-much like her relationships with men-is complex and multilayered. Her work confronts the realities of a political system that doesn't celebrate artistic freedom. Here we have a new way of looking at a woman, an artist, a country, and the colonizers of that country. In these music-infused poems, Guerra shares with us her hard-won truths.
About the Author
Wendy Guerra is a poet and novelist whose books include the novels I Was Never the First Lady and the poetry collections Platea a oscuras, Cabeza rapada, and Ropa interior. Nancy Naomi Carlson is a poet, translator, and essayist. Her translations include Khal Torabully's Cargo Hold of Stars: Coolitude. Esperanza Hope Snyder is a poet, novelist, and translator. She is the author of several books, including Esperanza and Hope.
Reviews
"Guerra is a Cuban poet who takes the island's colonial history as a subject and expands it into other contexts like the dynamics of erotic relationships." * New York Times *
"Guerra boldly rifts and morphs her imagery on her way to dramatic endings in poems ranging from the volcanic sex of 'From Pompeii' to other intimate and political exiles. The result is a restless and provocative interrogation of power." * LitHub *
"What a gift this volume is-the first of Guerra's collections to appear in English-a labor of love from Carlson and Snyder 13 years in the making. Sensuous and passionate, the poems in Delicates sing the praises of bodily pleasure and push against the constraints imposed on the human spirit, whether by autocratic governments or puritanical social mores." * Washington Independent Review of Books *
"Cuban poet and novelist Guerra's work has not often been translated into English, so this volume is a welcome gift to Anglophone readers. . . The range of emotions and tones in Delicates speak to the comprehensiveness of Guerra's poetic approach: a compelling book of longing and loss." * The Millions *
Book Information
ISBN 9781803091662
Author Wendy Guerra
Format Paperback
Page Count 72
Imprint Seagull Books London Ltd
Publisher Seagull Books London Ltd
