Encantado
Desert Monologues
Published on 25. September 2018
Book
Hardback
96 pages
978-0-8165-3802-7 (ISBN)
Description
Inspired by Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology and Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Pat Mora brings us the poetic monologues of Encantado, an imagined southwestern town.
Each poem forms a story that reveals the complex and emotional journeys we take through life. Mora meanders through the thoughts of Encantado's residents-the mothers and sisters, brothers and fathers in whom we see slivers of ourselves and our loved ones-and paints a portrait of a community through its inhabitants' own diverse voices. Even the river has a voice we understand.
Inspired by both the real and imagined stories around her, Mora transports us to the heart of what it means to join in a chorus of voices. A community. A town. Encantado.
Each poem forms a story that reveals the complex and emotional journeys we take through life. Mora meanders through the thoughts of Encantado's residents-the mothers and sisters, brothers and fathers in whom we see slivers of ourselves and our loved ones-and paints a portrait of a community through its inhabitants' own diverse voices. Even the river has a voice we understand.
Inspired by both the real and imagined stories around her, Mora transports us to the heart of what it means to join in a chorus of voices. A community. A town. Encantado.
Reviews / Votes
Encantado is a holy book. Its honest people and voices, the affecting cadence and clarity of two languages so gently well-woven, [and] the encouraging lives of compassionate humans heal our souls. Pat Mora has given us a wondrous gift.""-Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners""'[D]eparted spirits return / to Encantado as stars, / meander / down dark streets and hallways, / peer into windows . . .' reads the title poem in Pat Mora's collective portrait, recalling Juan Rulfo's Comala in Pedro Paramo. What we have, then, are indelible portraits of Lupe, Barbara, Senor Ortega, and Stella-to name a few-populating the town of Encantado, fictitious or not . . . 'in another time, in another place' but breathing fully in these indelible poems.""-Francisco Aragon, author of Glow of Our Sweat
Praise for Pat Mora:
""Ms. Mora's poems are proudly bilingual, an eloquent answer to purists who refuse to see language as something that lives and changes.""- New York Times Book Review
""Mora celebrates the ordinary in unordinary lyrics.""-Publishers Weekly
""Mora's imagery contributes intensely to her spare and minimalist poems... [her] poems both instruct and delight.""-Texas Books in Review
""[Mora's] voice is multifaceted: tender, humorous and joyful but also profound.""-Kirkus Reviews
""Mora's radiance and exuberance are simply enchanting.""-North American Review
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Tucson
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 190 mm
Width: 127 mm
Weight
825 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8165-3802-7 (9780816538027)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Pat Mora is an author, speaker, educator, and literacy advocate. She has written more than forty-five books for adults, teens, and children. Her poetry collections include Chants, Borders, Communion, Agua Santa: Holy Water, Aunt Carmen's Book of Practical Saints, and Adobe Odes; her books of nonfiction include Nepantla: Essays from the Land in the Middle and the family memoir House of Houses. The recipient of two honorary doctorates and a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, she lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.