The poems in this book follow the author's observations while infatuated with the force inside that makes us search for a soulful match, one in which the feelings emerge in many dimensions. The search sometimes takes us through several amorous ventures but then we mature and learn the vicissitudes of the force as it manifests itself in real life, not in our imagination. The language of love can be simple as nature intended but also as complex as the human psyche can make it. The sounds of love from spoken or written lines can be funny or sad, personal or abstract, broad and metaphysical or specific and petty. Love generates images that transcend language and so attempts to articulate what is happening can result in lines that are blurry or disconnected, even violating the rules of any human dialect. What is certain in the expression of love is that an irrepressible urge is there, that the connection is best when it is mutual, that time and duty are constantly getting in the way, and finally that hope for true fulfillment is forever ardent until death. To dwell on the physical aspects of love-the magnetic qualities of attraction, the corporal aspects of looks, scent and touch, the sexual union-simply ignores its deeper and longer lasting traits like friendship, trust, respect and benevolence. Love over time allows these more admirable human traits to blossom in the relationship with the targeted companion, perhaps even spilling over into more general terms for those around us. What starts out as a hormonal volcano in youth transitions to various strands of a human relationship and feelings that develop from various forms of success and disappointment, sometimes caused by us and sometimes not. There is no substitute for love; as human beings we are blessed because we can write about it and make sounds about it, albeit imperfectly. ANDRES C. SALAZAR is author of "Release from Cibola," the first Sunstone Press novel of a trilogy on the life of Reyes Cordova who grows up during the 1950s in Northern New Mexico within a disenfranchised and impoverished Spanish-speaking culture. He earned a doctorate at Michigan State University and then spent decades on the east coast before returning to New Mexico as chaired professor at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Salazar currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Reyes Cordova is a young boy tired of being poor and feeling hopeless. He is a descendant of religious and starry-eyed settlers from Spain that came to Cibola seeking a fortune but found nothing but an inhospitable climate and an unstable relationship with Pueblo Indians. A stubborn lot, the settlers worked hard to make a living out of farming and ranching in a Rio del Norte valley in what is now Northern New Mexico. Now three hundred and fifty years later, and nearly a century after becoming part of the United States, Reyes' Spanish-speaking, impoverished culture has made little inroads to assimilating into America. Reyes learns from teachers that mastering English can help him become more American and that will give him an opportunity for a good job. He becomes obsessed with learning the language, a task made difficult by his handicaps-illegitimate, a mother who speaks only Spanish, subsisting on public welfare-in addition to being part of a culture that promotes conformity, immediate gratification, close family relationships and xenophobic rejection of Anglophone society. Reyes' story is told in a poignant and picaresque series of journal-like portraits that trace his emergence from the mystical realm of Cibola that is a blend of an ancient Pueblo culture, an archaic Spanish heritage, and an encroaching American dominion in the age of Eisenhower and its cataclysmic events-the hydrogen bomb, the Communist Menace, Sputnik, accelerated farm-to-urban migration, and momentous protests for minority and women's rights. "Release from Cibola" is the first novel in a trilogy on the life of Reyes Cordova. ANDRES C. SALAZAR is author of numerous journal articles and an editor of a trade press book. He is a bilingual native of Northern New Mexico who received a doctorate at Michigan State University and then spent decades on the east coast working in industry. He returned to New Mexico as chaired professor at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and went on to teach at two other universities in the state over a ten year period while remaining a UNM research professor. He is also the author of "Seasons, Some Amorous Observations," a book of poetry. Dr. Salazar resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.