Aztec Autopsies

David Gershator visits and re-visits Mexico in poems ranging from headline grabbing news clips to lyrical love poems, from fiery fulminations to hallucinatory visions. As translator/editor of Federico García Lorca’s SELECTED LETTERS and student of the poet’s brother, Francisco García Lorca, he takes cues from Lorca’s experiments in POETA EN NUEVA YORK; from countless rancheras and corridos; from the historical continuity of myth, madness, politics and pain; and from Inga Clendinnen’s description of “Mexica aesthetics” in her book AZTECS: AN INTERPRETATION, as operating “through a kind of surrealism achieved by dislocation.” The 100 page collection includes a glossary and 17 pen and ink drawings by the poet.