A review by gomar93
Directions to the Beach of the Dead by Richard Blanco

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.