Thirty poems divided into three sections. This is Arroyo's third book. He is a Chicago-born Puerto Rican with an intense voice. His search for identity, & contemplation of heritage, endows his work with a fiery foundation of sub-cultural being. His evocative descriptions are precise and his use of Pop icons front a satirical existence. " though gunpowder residue makes us/ all darker I'm a bitter James Bond...", or "...think I'll take a bath read/ (reread) James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time/ or The Bible that I stole from a hotel/ in Cleveland." Between aggression and inhibition Rane creates metaphors of conflict & culture. "for I bark so well!/ You should hear me purr my name:/ Rane/ Ramón/ Arroyo/ homo sapien puertorriqueño pretty/ book boy poet." You do not have to be racially impelled, or influenced, to wither in the full radiance of this voice.--R.R. Lee Etzwiler
This review originally appeared in TapRoot Reviews #4,
Contact the editor, luigi-bob drake, at Burning Press
Copyright Burning Press 1994, 1995.