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Title: Sonnets to Madness and Other Misfortunes: Sonetos a LA Locura Y Otras Penas by Francisco X. Alarcon, Donald S. Ellis ISBN: 0-88739-450-7 Publisher: Creative Arts Book Co Pub. Date: May, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: A bilingual collection from a language-conscious poet
Comment: "Sonnets to Madness and Other Misfortunes" is a collection of poetry by Francisco X. Alarcon. The poems are in Spanish; the book is presented in bilingual format, with English translations by Francisco Aragon. Most of the poems in the book are assigned Roman numerals instead of titles.

The book as a whole has a sad, thoughtful tone, but I found it ultimately hopeful. A number of poems are about loneliness and the desire for love. Consider the quote, "could it be I'm the last person / on the face of the earth?" (XXII). Some poems have a political edge; in one he asks "how much for Central American coffee / that hums with bullet-ridden blood?" (XX).

I found the strongest poems in the collection to be a trio that deal with words and language. In one of these three Alarcon writes that "beneath this language there's another, / more ancient, agile, elusive" (XVI). He seems to be pointing towards an ur-language that transcends language. Overall, a solid collection by an important Latino poet of the United States.