Snake Poems [Paperback]

Francisco X. Alarcon (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Acupuncture For The Back
Against Anger
Against Scorpion's Sting And Poison
Against Unruly Ants
Aguamiel
Birds
Birth
Calendar Keepers
Canto A Las Tortillas
Chicome-coatl/seven Snake
Chicome-xochitl/seven Flower
Cihuacoatl
Clouds
Cutting Wood
Day And Night
Divining By Looking In The Water
Divining With Corn
Divining With The Hands
Domingo Hernandez
Drought
Ensnared Deer
First Offering
Flowers
For Bathing
For Bone Fractures
For Fatigue And Body Pains
For Fevers
For Finding Affection
For Hunting Birds
For Hunting Deer
For Keeping Animals Out Of Sown Fields
For Love
For Planting Camotes
For Planting Corn
For Storing Corn
For Strained Chests
Four Directions
Heart
Hello
Herbs
Hernando Ruiz De Alarcon
Holocaust
Home Spirit
I'm Not Really Crying
In Ixtli Yollotl/ Face And Heart
In The Middle Of The Night
In Xochitl In Cuicatl
Journey
Listen
Little Toltecs
Martin De Luna
Massage
Matriarch
Messengers
Mestizo
Midnight Water Song
Moon
Morning Ritual
Nahual
Nature
Necer Alone
New Day
Night
Nomatca Nehuatl
Not Poems
Ode To Tomatoes
Ollin/movement
Ololiuqui
Oracle
Potent Seeds
Prayer For The Sun Before Traveling
Prayer To Fire
Rainbow
Reconciling
Rescue
Same
Seer
Shame
Silence
Snake Wheel
Songs
Spirits Of The Forest
The Story Of Yappan
Sun's Children
Temicxoch
Tepeyollotli
Thunder
To Cast Sleep
To Earthworms Before Fishing With A Hook
To Those Who Have Lost Everything
To Undo The Sleep Spell
Tobacco
Tonal
Tonalamatl/spirit Book
Tonantzin
Traveler's Prayer
Urban Villagers
Visions
Water Spirits
We're One
Wiser
Working Hands
Yoliliztli/life In Motion
Yolloxochitl/heart-flower
Ancient Nahuatl Poem
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Language Notes

Text: English, Spanish

Product Details

• Paperback: 162 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (February 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811801616
• ISBN-13: 978-0811801614
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #595,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > History > Ancient > Aztec

More About the Author

Francisco X. Alarcón is an award-winning poet and educator whoi was born in Los Angeles, California, and is the author of eleven volumes of poetry, including, FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF NIGHT: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS (University of Arizona Press 2002), SONNETS TO MADNESS AND OTHER MISFORTUNES (Creative Arts Book Company 2001), SNAKE POEMS: AN AZTEC INVOCATION (Chronicle Books 1992), DE AMOR OSCURO / OF DARK LOVE (Moving Parts Press 2001).

He is also an acclaimed children's author who is able to write his books both in English and Spanish. His most recent book of bilingual poetry for children celebrates a natural wonder of the world, ANIMAL POEMS OF THE IGUAZÚ (Children's Book Press 2008) and it was selected as a Notable Book for a Global Society by the International Reading Association, and as an Américas Award Commended Title by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs. His previous bilingual book POEMS TO DREAM TOGETHER (Lee & Low Books 2005) was awarded the 2006 Jane Addams Honor Book Award.

The seasons of the year inspired Francisco to write four award-wining books of bilingual poems published by Children's Book Press of San Francisco. LAUGHING TOMATOES AND OTHER SPRING POEMS (1997) was awarded the 1997 Pura Belpré Honor Award by the American Library Association and the National Parenting Publications Gold Medal. He also received the 2000 Pura Belpré Honor Award for his second book of bilingual poems for children, FROM THE BELLYBUTTON OF THE MOON AND OTHER SUMMER POEMS (1998), and the 2002 Pura Belpré Honor Award for his fourth book of bilingual poems for children, IGUANAS IN THE SNOW AND OTHER WINTER POEMS (2001). He has published another book for children, ANGELS RIDE BIKES AND OTHER FALL POEMS (1999).

Francisco has been a finalist nominated for Poet Laureate of California in two occasions in the past five years. He teaches at the University of California, Davis.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Educational, provocative ..., July 8, 2001

By 

M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Snake Poems (Paperback)

This book is an interplay with a collection of Aztec incantations collected in the early 17th century. It includes translations, a glossary and an extensive bibliography in addition to the poetry by Alarcon. The book is primarily for lovers of poetry but is useful to anyone with an interest in MesoAmerican culture and religion.

Alarcon's poetry is typical of his style - extremely spare depending heavily on its images and the connotations (as opposed to the denotations) of words. In this particular book where the number of poems in each section is determined by Aztec associations, a few of the poems are a handful of words - a snippet of a phrase. Some of these work in much the same way haiku works - but a few fail as poetry. The longer poems are consistently successful - either as new incantations or as comtemporary poetry.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful. Rare. Wise. Rich in spirit., October 10, 1999

By 

Naomi Ayala - See all my reviews

This review is from: Snake Poems (Paperback)

A rare and unique book indeed! Mr. Alarcon takes us on a spiritual path to the past with poems that are vibrant, full of wisdom, and rich in the voices of ancestors.