About the Book
"El Paso, the pass to the north, lies between vast stretches of
desert. This is a geographic accident. Yet like everywhere, people
live, love, marry, grow old and die. They also rejoice and
despair. These poems relate all these experiences--but in the
magical presence, the teluric force, of the desert. Two women
poets sing here, one in the guise of the desert, the other in the
figure of Pat Mora. Together they intone Chants.
The desert's beauty is perceived in the subtle gradations of
color and texture, in stark contrasts between light and darkness.
It speaks as a magical force, as a lonely woman and, for our
patience, offers flowers. Like the desert, Pat Mora speaks with
muted tones, weaves incantations; she invests her poetic space
with magical figures, yet from her loneliness come as well fear,
resentment and despair. But she learns the peaceful solitude of
the desert. From their dialogue, words become blossoms, fragile in
desert rhythms."
—Julián Olivares, Editor, Revista Chicano-Riqueña
Highlighted Reviews
"Her poems are beautiful flowers on a painted
landscape . . .chants that hold the reader mesmerized. . . her
poems have a similar style to the similar structure of Willam
Carlos Williams and the graceful beauty of Elizabeth Bishop."
—Rafael C. Castillo, Nuestro
"Healers, those who restore by bringing
together what seems to be separate, often suffer but possess great
‘magic’, and Mora’s is a healing voice." —Contact II
"This collection is rich, spirited and
promising, and it makes me want to read more of her work."
— urricane Alice, A Feminist Review |
