Bomarzo (Paperback or Softback)

Bomarzo iis a garden of monsters, an Arcadian bower, a fugue state, an invocation, a purgatorial dream. Titled after the site of the sixteenth-century Parco dei Mostri, constructed by the Duke Pier Francesco Orsini in central Italy, Mexican poet Elsa Cross' collection gathers all these connotations under its eerie shadow. A long poem consisting of nineteen numbered sections, each around two pages long, the collection inhabits the structure of an underworld journey narrative. However, the narrative motion is often disrupted by the intrusión of dreams and memories, as well as the plural speaker's deliberate attempt to "divert [ ] the conversation."

Elsa Cross (Mexico City, 1946) Poet, essayist, and translator. In Mexico, she has received the National Prize for Arts and Literature (2016), the International Alfonso Reyes Prize (2023), among many other awards both national and international. She holds a PhD in Philosophy from UNAM, where she is a full professor of Philosophy of Religion. She has also published books of essays, poetry translations and the extensive compilation El Lejano Oriente en la poesía mexicana (2022). Among her most recent poetry collections are Insomnio (2016), Nepantla (2019) and Isla Negra (2023).

Lawrence Schimel (New York City, 1971) is a full-time author, writing both in Spanish and English. Based in Madrid, hehas published over 130 books in a wide range of genres. He is also a prolifi c literary translator who has published over 200 books, includ ing more than 50 poetry collections. Authors he has translated into Spanish include Michael Ondaatje, Maggie Nelson, Danez Smith, Koleka Putuma, George Takei. Authors he has translated into English include Carmen Boullosa, Juan Villoro, Elsa Cross, Ángelo Néstore, Carlos Pintado, María José Ferrada, Luis Panini.