Review (PDF) My Father Was A Toltec: And Selected Poems
Mixing the lyrical with the colloquial, the tender with the tough, Ana Castillo has a deserved reputation as one of the country’s most powerful and entrancing novelists, but she began her literary career as a poet of uncompromising commitment and passion. My Father Was a Toltec is the sassy and street-wise collection of poems that established and secured Castillo's place in the popular canon. It is included here in its entirety along with the best of her early poems. Ana Castillo’s poetry speaks—in English and Spanish—to every reader who has felt the pangs of exile, the uninterrupted joy of love, and the deep despair of love lost.
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Anchor; Bilingual edition (April 13, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 140003499X
ISBN-13: 978-1400034994
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.4 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #856,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #224 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > European > Spanish #1389 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Foreign Languages > Spanish #1546 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Literature > American Literature
I have never connected with a collection of poetry so immediately and fully as I have with "My Father was a Toltec." I have wanted to love poetry my whole life, but I failed to find a poet that really reached me. That ended when I found Ana Castillo. Her poetry is powerful, precise, angry and emotional, totally vulnerable, and unspoiled by conventional training.She tells the story of everything it is to be a woman. All the women I have shown this collection to have loved it as intensely as I do.
Call them what you will, street poetry, poems from the hood,or beauty personified, Ana Castillo's work speaks to all themature themes of the American experience during the past halfcentury or so --- racism, sexism, ethnic pride and ethnic struggle.With such an ethnocentric title as "my Father was a Toltec,"it is no wonder that Castillo harbors a contradictory image ofgangster father: on the one hand, proud of her Mexican heritageand that her father hailed from such a great civilization, on theother, having no illusions as to who he really was, a member of theToltec gang of Chicago's West Side and all that goes with it. Thesepoems are important for two reasons: one, they give us a glimpse intothe Latino culture in America and the struggle they and she endured,but two, it forces us to confront the very differences that drivepeople and races apart. While the image of her father is abit steeped in stereotypical themes of the lazy, mambo-dancing,womanizing, fedora-donning, silk-suit-and-tie-wearing Chicano, wemust conclude by saying 'if the shoe fits, wear it.' The themesin this collection are strong in flavor and not for the the faintof heart which is why I will have trouble with sleep tonight.These poems titillate, teach, but most importantly, touch us withtheir humanity.
To begin with, I will announce that this wonderful collection is coming back out in print. This came to my attention in my panic to get copies for a class I am teaching on Women of Color poets. These are the poems of an original voice. If anyone with a sense of the struggle of Mexicans in this country reads this book and remained unmoved I would wonder if they had a soul. Much more powerful, is the powerful message of a woman whose voice was previously unheard. Castillo's internal assonance, her skill as a poet to make the most difficult moves look easy on the page is among her assets as a poet out of this generation of activists. The fact that Castillo's later success with her novels "seemed so easy" is actually an indication of how she perseveres. I will continue to use this collection until retirement and then I will pass it on to my grandchildren--to remember that it wasn't easy at all.
To begin with, I will announce that this wonderful collection is coming back out in print. This came to my attention in my panic to get copies for a class I am teaching on Women of Color poets. These are the poems of an original voice. If anyone with a sense of the struggle of Mexicans in this country reads this book and remained unmoved I would wonder if they had a soul. Much more powerful, is the powerful message of a woman whose voice was previously unheard. Castillo's internal assonance, her skill as a poet to make the most difficult moves look easy on the page is among her assets as a poet out of this generation of activists. The fact that Castillo's later success with her novels "seemed so easy" is actually an indication of how she perseveres. I will continue to use this collection until retirement and then I will pass it on to my grnadchildren--to remember it wasn't easy at all.
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