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baronessekat's review against another edition
4.0
I am not generally one for poetry, having had it rammed down my throat in high school and college English classes.
But a reading challenge had the category "a book of poetry". I wandered the stacks of my library and saw this little book that somehow caught my eye.
This is something about Blanco's writing that spoke to me. His imagery with words enabled me to see the places he talked about, feel the emotions he was trying to convey. The poems "The Return from El Cerrado" and "How Can You Love New York" each made me pause in my readings to just absorb the emotions and images.
I can see what this poet was selected as the "2013 Inaugural poet" by President Barack Obama.
But a reading challenge had the category "a book of poetry". I wandered the stacks of my library and saw this little book that somehow caught my eye.
This is something about Blanco's writing that spoke to me. His imagery with words enabled me to see the places he talked about, feel the emotions he was trying to convey. The poems "The Return from El Cerrado" and "How Can You Love New York" each made me pause in my readings to just absorb the emotions and images.
I can see what this poet was selected as the "2013 Inaugural poet" by President Barack Obama.
gomar93's review against another edition
4.0
A delightful set of themed sections on identity while traveling, at the dinner table, and while spending time with family and lovers. It's a really good book of poetry worth anyone's read. Blanco really comes through with his fluid presentation of a pan-latin americanism that is as optimistic as it is thoughtful. Some of these that I mean are "Bargaining with a Goddess, After Rigoberta Menchu" and "My Campo Santo". In the latter, some might say he is riding a fine line of "colorblindness," but I can attest to at least the emotions Blanco seems to feel. As someone who has moved in a similar fashion to Blanco, that empathetical quality tends to be seen as presumptuous and laughable even to me, though I would never label my family's situation as "exile". It is possible, however, from within a racially privileged Latino, for Blanco's empathy for Latin Americans as sincere. Some might not believe it, but demonstrates it well enough for me to stop and say "yas," pretty regularly. Thank you Obama, for presenting Blanco to the world.
abetterbradley's review against another edition
4.0
I am really enjoying Richard Blanco's poetry and I am very thankful he was tapped for the inauguration because I don't know if I would have discovered him otherwise. The first half of the book are travel inspired and the second half deal with family. My favorites were "After Barcelona, In Barcelona" and "Empty Crosswords".
trinitym's review
5.0
That imagery was flawless. Also, loved how his poems about lovers never used pronouns, yet I was able to picture their necessary qualities perfectly.
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