De Xánath Caraza
In Corazón Pintado: Ekphrastic Poems (2015), traveler, educator, poet and short story writer Xánath Caraza conjures up a collection of ekphrastic poems that summon both the indigenous and African roots of Mexico and take the reader through a trip of visual and rhythmic narratives that descend “into the heart of things”.
Pandora lobo estepario Production Press has decided to publish the second edition of Caraza’s, Corazón Pintado: Ekphrastic Poems (2015). This second edition is revised, augmented, and has a foreword by Nuno Júdice. The chapbook is a bilingual edition; most of the translations are by the author in addition to Sandra Kingery and Stephen Holland-Wempe.
“Caraza’s voice is the pulse of the powerful, mythic earth. Landscape and dreamscape fuse in this rhythmic poetry, as the images Caraza paints and repaints for us—mountains, shells, twisters, deserts—go on “rocking the imagination” through time, history, memory, and that wildest frontier: the heart.” —Maria Melendez, author of Flexible Bones and How Long She’ll Last in This World.
“Xánath Caraza creates poignant visually inspired narratives. Her ekphrastic poems evoke “eternal wisdom” gained through stories of past generations.” —Silvia Kofler, editor of Thorny Locust and author of Radioactive Musings.
“In her bilingual chapbook, Corazón Pintado: Ekphrastic Poems, traveler, educator, poet and short story writer Xánath Caraza conjures up a collection of ekphrastic poems that summon both the indigenous and African roots of Mexico and take the reader through a trip of visual and rhythmic narratives that descend “into the heart of things”.”—Lauro Vazquez
“Water and waves flow through the book, and drag nurturing, cleansing throughout the pages. They are drenched with both death and freedom. A tree standing alone, barren, settled in sadness contrasts images of the sea. All of it pointing in both directions, the past and the future. See the vibrancy, colors smeared across the palate, staining magic, birth, struggle, reality, and dream. Look into the blush, the tint of the painted heart.” —Lonita Cook, writer for the Examiner
“Xánath Caraza has the gift of transforming a story into a poem, even when it has the lyrical melding of a metaphorical touch or a melody. Further, this is what allows us to listen, in each poem, to that voice which shares and transmits worldly and enduring knowledge.” —Nuno Júdice, Lisbon, Portugal
Parts of the second edition of Corazón Pintado: Ekphrastic Poems were written with the support from the Beca Nebrija para Creadores 2014 award from the Instituto Franklin in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
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