Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos (Dual Language Edition:: Spanish, English) (Spanish and English Edition) - Softcover

De Burgos, Julia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1880684241 ISBN 13: 9781880684245

Publisher: Curbstone Books, 1997

Synopsis

Song of the Simple Truth (Canción de la verdad sencilla) is the first bilingual edition of Julia de Burgos' complete poems. Numbering more than 200, these poems form a literary landmark—the first time her poems have appeared in a complete edition in either English or Spanish. Many of the verses presented here had been lost and are presented here for the first time in print. De Burgos broke new ground in her poetry by fusing a romantic temperament with keen political insights. This book will be essential reading for lovers of poetry and for feminists.

About this title

Book Description

From the Introduction

One summery day in Puerto Rican East Harlem, I leaned on the sidewalk fence in front of the headquarters of the Association of Puerto Rican Postal Employees. The three story brick building on 109th Street near the corner of Lexington Avenue and its ample stoop were a favorite hang-out for our gang, the Senecas. Sometimes twelve or fifteen of us would sit all over the steps leading to the parlor floor entrance. The caretakers of the building were very tolerant of our congregating on their steps and did not normally chase us away. They knew us to be one of the peaceful gangs of East Harlem in those years when I was just a teen-ager--the 1950s.

That particular day there was just myself and a man whose name I now forget--a street friend who frequently stopped to chat and tell us jokes. That day, standing in a hot sun, we were talking in the late afternoon. Suddenly, a group of four or five men came around the corner and with them there was a woman. The men were all ruddy and disheveled. They spoke and laughed loudly and you could see several pints of rum or wine among them. We assumed that they had just come from the liquor store on 110th Street and Lexington Avenue.

In the midst of the five men there was a woman. A tall woman, as tall as the tallest man, and taller than several of them.  As the animated band walked by, my friend straightened up and watched them intensely. When they had passed, he asked me, "Do you know who that woman was?" I said "no," expecting him to crack some joke. But he remained very serious and looking after the swaying chattering group said, "That was Julia de Burgos, Puerto Rico's most famous poet." I looked at him for signs that he was kidding, but he was dead serious. Then he looked at me and said "You have to be careful drinking."

Then the conversation changed, and I forgot about Julia de Burgos until one day I was about to enter Central Park at the Pioneer's Gate on 110th Street, when I noticed off to the left of the lion-mouthed, horse-watering fountain, a group of men sitting and standing near one of the benches on Fifth Avenue outside the park. Sitting on the bench was Julia de Burgos. But I was too self conscious to stare, an

About the Author

Julia de Burgos, born in Puerto Rico in 1914, was an accomplished poet and journalist who was revolutionary in her politics, poetry, and feminism. Avidly supporting the cause of Puerto Rican independence, she was also an internationalist who was anti-Franco, anti-Trujillo, and anti-Somoza. As a feminist and Puerto Rican independentista she paid for her convictions and strength by being persecuted as a political figure. A cultural icon, Julia de Burgos was shamefully neglected as a poet during her lifetime. She died in New York City in 1953.

Edition details

• Publisher: Curbstone Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1880684241
• ISBN 13: 9781880684245
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: Spanish
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 524