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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.
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