So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water Until It Breaks: POEMS (National Poetry Series) [Paperback]

Rigoberto Gonzalez (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0252067983 | ISBN-13: 978-0252067983 | Publication Date: May 1, 1999

An astonishing new talent, Rigoberto Gonzlez writes with a clarity of the senses that pulls the reader into a marvelous and unfamiliar world. The sidewalk preacher, the umbrella salesman, the nurse on the graveyard shift, the professional mourner - all allow Gonzlez a clandestine glimpse of their lives. Crackling with the dry electricity of the desert and flashing with the brilliant colors of Mexico, Gonzlez's poems are rooted in the fertile soil beneath poverty's dust, the border's violence, and longing's desolation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It may be difficult for most readers to take poems like "Death of the Farm Workers' Cat" or "The Exhibitionist Umbrella Salesman" at face value. But in this debut, selected by Ai for the National Poetry Series, Gonz lez works to tell such stories, and his own, without embellishment, like the deadpan, sinister fables and parables of Ai's own work. Steadily lovely lines function like directorless cinematography "Catarina shakes the cracker crumbs off/ the lime dress with the collar crawling up the throat/ in Catholic schoolgirl fashion./ The torn hem above the knees won't show." Most of the poems are as clear and cohesive as the above stanza, and the stories they tell are rich with the colors, smells and exigencies of daily life in differing corners of the Mexican diaspora. Poems like "Perla at the Mexican Border Assembly Line of Dolls," "Planidera: Professional Mourner for Hire" and "Rosario's Graveyard Shift at JFK Memorial Hospital" show a particular interest in what often remains women's work. Others focus on the poet's childhood memories of Catholicism, nascent sexuality and literacy. DeathA"that horrible truth spread/ like honey"Ais never far away, foreboding and talismanic. Some of the poems' characters, purposefully deprived of depth, personality or self-expression, come off as social realist caricatures. But at their best, Gonz lez pushes the poems forward with grim authorityA"Darkness can be so maternal:/ blood spots tip down like baby heads"Aand startling beauty: "We value the chrysalis of bone/, the blue shell that brings down the sky within our reach."
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Selected by Ai for this years National Poetry Series, Gonz lezs first volume of mostly straightforward narratives with their somber ironies and death-drenched imagery rely on a multicultural appeal for their uniqueness. As in the awkward title, hes translating his Mexican heritage for readers who are meant to gasp at the poverty and superstitions of his ancestors south of the border. A number of portraits illustrate the sad Mexican lives: Planidera, a professional mourner, saves the tears from her husbands death for her job; in Sentimental Undertakers, the local coffin-maker saves old, worthless pesos to place with the dead, a folk custom; The Exhibitionist Umbrella Salesman doesnt understand the townfolks reluctance to buy his product, which they fear will jinx the weather; and, best of all, Craft of the Candlestick Maker nicely describes his devotional art. Many of these poems are haunted by the spirits of the dead, and the masks, dolls, and mannequins throughout the volume all focus on the departed. Gonz lez blends native lore with Catholic belief (not much of it doctrinal), and in his best work, echoes the repetitions of biblical verse. Many poems about his grandparents are affectionate memories of reading Spanish together, or looking at the stars. Gonz lez, however, also weighs down his volume with social commentary implicit in portraits of exploited border workers, Mexican-Americans who endure prejudice, a migrant worker who picks grapes for the wine of the affluent, and a repairman up north who commits suicide (because he feels so lost and lonely). In the title sequence, Gonz lez flexes his magical- realist muscle in a poem in four voices about sexual jealousy and revenge. A clear and focused debut, but one thats also too predictable as a result. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252067983
• ISBN-13: 978-0252067983
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,790,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rigoberto González was born in Bakersfield, California and raised in Michoacán, Mexico. The son and grandson of migrant farmworkers, he is the author of eight books and the editor of Camino del Sol: Fifteen Years of Latina and Latino Writing and Xicano Duende: A Select Anthology of Alurista's poetry. The recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, winner of the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Societry of America, the American Book Award, and The Poetry Center Book Award, he writes a twice-a-month Latino book column for the El Paso Times of Texas. He is contributing editor for Poets and Writers Magazine, on the Board of Directors of the National Book Critics Circle, and is Associate Professor of English at Rutgers--Newark, the State University of New Jersey. For the past twelve years he has lived mostly in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! What a debut!, June 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water Until It Breaks: POEMS (National Poetry Series) (Paperback)

"Listen..." begins Rigoberto Gonzalez in his brilliant collection, "So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water Until it Breaks." And listen we must, because in these pages, an important voice in poetry emerges. Gonzalez, whom Sandra McPherson refers to as a " poet of two nations," brings us deep into worlds within worlds in Mexico. These are beautiful and penetrating pieces--they will make any poetry lover feel that amid the current wave of uninspired and unchallenging poetry, a poet with a unique voice and perspective appears. The poet Ai has made the right decision in picking this collection for the National Poetry Series. Finally, finally, a poet that poets can love and follow. Read this collection--learn what the title means, and enter the world it brings, dark, moving and powerful. A magnificent debut true and true!!!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is the bomb!, September 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water Until It Breaks: POEMS (National Poetry Series) (Paperback)

I read this book for a summer class in college and I was blown away! The poems are definitely a cut above. And I'm one of those hypercritical readers of poetry. This one you can't put down. A warning to those who scare easily. Don't read these right before you go to bed they will haunt your dreams. Check out that man who distributes nightmares poem.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BREATHTAKING!, June 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water Until It Breaks: POEMS (National Poetry Series) (Paperback)

Throughout this stunning book of poems, the reader is fitted with a yoke of great psychological weight. "So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water Until it Breaks" is a recollection of violence and those who have lived and still live in a time of violence. The voices of the book are survivors in a landscape populated by so many silent bodies. Gonzalez gives voice to them. An act so necessary, so stunningly accomplished and crafted. Poems such as, "Mortician's Secrets," tell the stories of those who are otherwise forgotten. These poems also serve as transformative agents. Violence, though still terrible, becomes a tool for a grandmother to teach her grandson to read Spanish in one of the poems. This book and its profound obligation to these survivors, their landscape, and their loves leave this reader with a feeling of grief and wonder. These are not sparse two-dimensional photographs of people and moments to be tucked away in a shoebox. . . these poems are a gaze through the lens of nostalgia itself.