Synopses & Reviews
Let go your keys, let go your gun, let go your good pen and your rings, let your wolf mask go and kiss goodbye your goddess figurine. With this invocation, María Meléndez beckons us on a journey—an exotic expedition through lifes mysteries in search of the finer strands of experience. In a Latina voice laced with a naturalists sense of wonder, she weaves bold images reflecting a world threaded by unseen wounds, now laid before us with an unflinching love of life and an exquisite precision of language. Adopting multiple guises—field researcher, laboring mother, grief-stricken lover—Meléndez casts aside stereotypes and expectations to forge a new language steeped in life and landscape. Whether meditating on a controlled prairie burn or contemplating the turquoise cheek of a fathead minnow, she weaves words and memories into a rich tapestry that resonates with sensual detail and magnifies her sense of maternal wildness, urging us to “Love as much as you / can, dont throw your heart / away to just one god.” In her paean to the Aztec deity Tonacacihuatl, mother of the gods, Meléndez muses that “How many spirits shes twin to, and how long shell last in this world, / are secrets stashed in the rattle / of corn ears, in the coils / of venomous snakes.” Through stunning images and stark realism, her poems embrace motherhood and vocation, love and grief, land and life, to bring new meaning to the natural world and how we experience it.
Review
“All of the poems in this collection speak directly to the soul.” —Jacket Magazine“A fine poet whose words ring with wisdom, discovery, and unparalleled beauty.”—El Paso Times
Synopsis
Let go your keys, let go your gun, let go your good pen and your rings, let your wolf mask go and kiss goodbye your goddess figurine.
With this invocation, Maria Melendez beckons us on a journey an exotic expedition through life s mysteries in search of the finer strands of experience. In a Latina voice laced with a naturalist s sense of wonder, she weaves bold images reflecting a world threaded by unseen wounds, now laid before us with an unflinching love of life and an exquisite precision of language. Adopting multiple guises field researcher, laboring mother, grief-stricken lover Melendez casts aside stereotypes and expectations to forge a new language steeped in life and landscape. Whether meditating on a controlled prairie burn or contemplating the turquoise cheek of a fathead minnow, she weaves words and memories into a rich tapestry that resonates with sensual detail and magnifies her sense of maternal wildness, urging us to Love as much as you / can, don t throw your heart / away to just one god. In her paean to the Aztec deity Tonacacihuatl, mother of the gods, Melendez muses that How many spirits she s twin to, and how long she ll last in this world, / are secrets stashed in the rattle / of corn ears, in the coils / of venomous snakes.
Through stunning images and stark realism, her poems embrace motherhood and vocation, love and grief, land and life, to bring new meaning to the natural world and how we experience it."
About the Author
María Meléndez has canvassed for political organizations and worked as a wildlife biology field assistant. In 2000 she was awarded an Artists-in-Communities grant from the California Arts Council to support her work as writer-in-residence at the UC Davis Arboretum, where she taught environmental poetry workshops for the public. She has authored one chapbook of poetry, Base Pairs, and edited two anthologies, Nest of Freedom and Moon Won't Leave Me Alone, and is currently assistant professor of English at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana.