Enjoying “Alba Blanca” the first poem in Fred Arroyo‘s collection Alba and Other Songs released from Gunpowder Press:
“My father hardly ever said a word to me.
He held his language, his family
his lovely garden so close
to his rolled up sleeves, so tight
within his fists, that words, I thought,
must be terrible….”
In Arroyo’s first poem, the reader experiences both the silences and “leather strap” violence within a father-son relationship. The words are raw and critical as much as they are tender for what might have been. Both moving and heartbreaking, Arroyo delivers each poem in the collection with English and Spanish versions, a delight for the reader. READ NOW
About Alba and Other Songs
Winner of the Alta California Chapbook Prize, Fred Arroyo‘s Alba and Other Songs is available in a bilingual edition. The series is edited by Emma Trelles.
“This lyrical and well-crafted chapbook has the breadth and substance of a full-length collection. Focusing on the said and unsaid, in an imagistic and incantatory style, Fred Arroyo has written an honest yet tender examination of a father-son relationship. Steeped in the nature of his barrio, Arroyo’s poems trace the borders of land and body to tell a story of family, exile, and belonging: “There are no boundaries / save the lines on maps. // There is no time / save the eye of memory.” —Alexandra Lytton Regalado, Final Judge, Alta California Prize
About Fred Arroyo
