{"product_id":"9781566895057","title":"Beneath the Spanish","description":"\u003cp\u003ePraise for Victor Hernández Cruz:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Bilingual since childhood, Mr. Cruz writes poems about his native Puerto Rico and elsewhere which often speak to us with a forked tongue, sometimes in a highly literate Spanglish. . . . He's a funny, hard-edged poet, declining always into mother wit and pathos.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A fluent sensualist and rhythmic stylist.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Like a salsa band leader coaxing and challenging dancers to more and more complex steps, Cruz dares readers with dizzying polyrhythms, polymetric stanzas, backstepping word structures and a sense of improvisation.\" —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBeneath the Spanish \u003c\/i\u003etracks the way that languages intersect and inform each other, and how language and music shapes experience. Moving across landscapes from Puerto Rico to Manhattan to Morocco, these poems are one man's history and a song that begs to be performed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom \"Ay Bendito, Que Vaina\":\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eCuneiform tablet inside,\u003cbr\u003eThe maracas pencil orality\u003cbr\u003eof remembered places,\u003cbr\u003ethe night stars,\u003cbr\u003ethe hammock, yucayeques\u003cbr\u003elike beehives, a river crab\u003cbr\u003ecame to my feet to talk\u003cbr\u003ewith its mouth legs,\u003cbr\u003etrembling like castanets.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eVictor Hernández Cruz \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of several collections of poetry including, most recently, \u003ci\u003eThe Mountain in the Sea \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eIn the Shadow of Al-Andalus\u003c\/i\u003e. Featured in Bill Moyers's Language of Life series, Cruz's collection, \u003ci\u003eMaraca\u003c\/i\u003e, was a finalist for the Lenore Marshall and Griffin Poetry Prizes. He divides his time between Morocco and his native Puerto Rico.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Coffee House Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47161443909872,"sku":"9781566895057","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781566895057_p0.jpg?v=1763791209","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781566895057","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}