Customer Reviews

Each and Her (Camino del Sol)

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Each and Her is a poem about the murders of over four hundred fifty girls and women in or near Juarez and Chihuahua Mexico since 1993. In spite of investigations and arrests, the murders continue. Some were students and some workers in maquiladoras which are factories or assembly plants, their murders linked with evidence of torture and mutilation. Maquiladora operators discriminate against pregnant women and demand their workers use birth control. If a worker is found to be pregnant, she is fired. These workers receive low wages and work long hours.

Some of the snippets are verses from the author, some of them are quotes and excerpts from poems or books.

Valerie Martinez lists some of the women's names, ages ranging from 7 through 60's.

The author's voice within these verses is sad as it tells the story of these lost women. Some of the pages have a single word such as sigame, which means follow me in Spanish. I found that while I was reading, those singular words would make an impact. They were perfectly placed within the poem.

This book is manufactured in the U.S. on acid-free, archival quality paper containing a minimum of 30% post consumer wasted and processed chlorine free.

In her poem "Each and Her", Valerie Martinez stunningly illustrates both the debilitating sadness and the compelling beauty of these young women in northern Mexico. She does this with an eloquence that is captivating and once started, her poems are almost impossible to put down.

There are verses where, without the use of one single word, the awful emptiness brings tears. There are others where her admiration of their beauty evokes joy and a celebration of their brief lives.

A delightful book. This is a poem that needs to be read, a story that needs to be told. It is so rewarding to have happened upon such a treasure.

I read the entirety of EACH AND HER in one sitting, something I rarely do. It was riveting, heart-breaking, memorable. An original and surprising stylistic choice to treat such subject matter, and very effective...the collage, fragments, found poems, the gardening blight metaphor all represent the subject, stories, the shocking official neglect, and the emotion powerfully. Pairing the part about Adam and Eve and Christ and Mary with the list of Marias was brilliant. Bravo!