The Date Fruit Elegies

Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. In his first full-length collection of poetry, award-winning poet John Olivares Espinoza defies the common portrayal of the typical Southern Californian and depicts a much harsher yet deeply touching reality for one working class family that struggles to make ends meet and save for the children's education. These poems elegantly yet accessibly chronicle the family's experiences in Southern California's Coachella Valley: a mother and her boys share a meal of two cheeseburgers; two wage-earning teens take a late night odyssey in search of a dinner other than cheese and vanilla pudding; a college student kneels next to his landscaper father. Dignified and never sentimental, these poems create vivid imagery that does not soon fade from the reader's mind.

John Olivares Espinoza received Bachelor of Arts degrees in sociology and in creative writing from the University of California at Riverside and an MFA from the Arizona State University Virginia G. Piper Center's poetry program. The author of two chapbooks, Gardeners of Eden (Chicano Chapbook series, 2000) and Aluminum Times (Swan Scythe Press, 2002), he now teaches at the National Hispanic University in San Jose, California.