Sonnets to Madness and Other Misfortunes

by Francisco X. Alarcón

Poetry. Latino/a Studies. Alarcon's poems in SONNETS TO MADNESS AND OTHER MISFORTUNES/SONETOS A LA LOCURA Y OTRAS PENAS are written in the liberating Hispanic sonnet vein inaugurated by ONE HUNDRED LOVE SONNETS by Pablo Neruda. Breaking away from traditional rhyming schemes and speaking in the free running language of concrete images, various poetic currents meet and mix in response to the present Latino conjuncture in the United States, and to the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887394507
• ISBN13: 9780887394508
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Creative Arts Book Company
• Length: 66 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A bilingual collection from a language-conscious poet

"Sonnets to Madness and Other Misfortunes" is a collection of poetry by Francisco X. Alarcon. The poems are in Spanish; the book is presented in bilingual format, with English translations by Francisco Aragon. Most of the poems in the book are assigned Roman numerals instead of titles.The book as a whole has a sad, thoughtful tone, but I found it ultimately hopeful. A number of poems are about loneliness and the desire for love. Consider the quote, "could it be I'm the last person / on the face of the earth?" (XXII). Some poems have a political edge; in one he asks "how much for Central American coffee / that hums with bullet-ridden blood?" (XX).I found the strongest poems in the collection to be a trio that deal with words and language. In one of these three Alarcon writes that "beneath this language there's another, / more ancient, agile, elusive" (XVI). He seems to be pointing towards an ur-language that transcends language. Overall, a solid collection by an important Latino poet of the United States.