Beautiful Wall

December 7, 2015
Gonzalez (Cool Auditor) has established himself as a writer of place, specifically the American Southwest. His latest collection emphasizes the mutability of the region and of the very idea of home. Meditative poems sift through the desert's pluralistic cultures and traditions, thoroughly and radically resisting any simplistic divisionâin the manner of the U.S.-Mexican borderâof the land, its history, and its people. Looking from El Paso across to Juarez, after considering the vista as home to the violence of present-day border crossings, the drug war, WWII-era atomic bomb testing, and 17th-century trade routes, Gonzalez instructs, "Make the sign of the cross, open your eye to one town,/ two cities, five centuries of praying in the beautiful dust." Even in poems that do not directly engage with the border, landscape becomes a palimpsest where no single narrative reigns. A number of poems focus on other writers, artists, and musicians, particularly the American tradition of writers who go west. Though distinct, these tributes resonate with Gonzalez's poetry of place, offering intimate engagements with subject matter that has meant many things to many different people at many different points in time. Such layered dynamics are central in Gonzalez's poetics, where "the riches of the city echo,/ like treason minus desire."

September 15, 2015

In his 15th collection (after The Hawk Temple at Tierra Grande), Gonzalez presents poems rich with cultural identity and blessed with a sense of place. They are arranged in three sections, with the first two the strongest and featuring many poems about the Southwest. The third section, which focuses on artists, writers, and musicians, offers several striking poems, including the imaginative opener, "Three Unfinished Masterpieces." Throughout, nature becomes a breathing presence ("This is not about miracles, but of the animal/ that leaves the water in its stillness"), and several poems pay tribute to the author's nephew, a veteran, whose PTSD contributed to his death: "I can't get it/ out of my head--/ an Army helmet as/ a deep bowl of sorrow." A ten-part poem that features Jack Kerouac and his mother at the Mexican border humorously describes Jack having a drug experience while showing his mom the sights. Occasionally, the author gets carried away, as in the page-length, one-sentence "Church," in which the verbiage makes the poem dense and hard to follow, but throughout readers will have the feeling that they are on a journey. VERDICT Gonzalez has a way of combining the mystical with the everyday and nature with the world of the family to produce poems lush with empathy. [See Prepub Alert, 6/14/15.]--Doris Lynch, Monroe Cty. P.L., Bloomington, IN

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2015
Gonzalez (Soul over Lightning, 2014), a celebrated and prolific poet, delivers another rich volume of exquisite verse, focusing on the beauty and ambiguity of walls, both literal and metaphorical. In One El Paso, Two El Paso, the speaker considers the epidemic of violence that plagues the U.S.-Mexico border, where the boundary / line between the living and the dead was erased years ago. Gonzalez balances this severity with a roster of creative beacons, referring often to artists and authors from around the globe. This creates an international tapestry of inspiration, including Chilean polymath Nicanor Parra, German-language lyricist Paul Celan, and Argentine avant-gardist Julio Cortazar. Like his progenitors, Gonzales cultivates a unique vision and voice, conjuring a world infused with mythos and ritual, whether it's a pilgrim finding respite inside the refreshing sanctuary of a cathedral's shade, or a tourist inspecting ancient ruins, discovering a clay jar decorated with the king Arzltkohaklytl's face. Along with such fellow Chicano poets as Alberto Rios and Juan Felipe Herrera, Gonzales continues his invaluable role in American literature.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)