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2023

Format:	Book
Author:	Olivarez, José, author.
Title:	Promises of gold = Promesas de oro / José Olivarez ; traducción al español de David Ruano González.
Edition:	First edition.
Publisher, Date:	New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2023.
Description:	xvi, 141 pages ; 22 cm
Summary:	A "collection of poems addressing how every kind of love--self, brotherly, romantic, familial, cultural--is birthed, shaped, and complicated by the invisible forces of gender, capitalism, religion, migration, and so on. Written in English and combined with a Spanish translation by poet David Ruano, [the book] explores many forms of love and how 'a promise made isn't always a promise kept,' as Olivarez grapples with the contradictions of the American Dream, laying bare the ways in which 'love is complicated by forces larger than our hearts'"-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects:	Olivarez, José -- Translations into Spanish.
Genre:	Poetry.
Other Author:	Ruano González, David, translator. Container of (expression): Olivarez, José. Promises of gold. Container of (expression): Olivarez, José. Promises of gold. Spanish.
Other Title:	Promesas de oro
Notes:	Poetry collection in English and translation into Spanish, bound tête-bêche. Publisher's Weekly,121922 Booklist, 020123, p. 7
LCCN:	2022047763
ISBN:	9781250878496 * 9781250878489
Other Number:	1310764201
System Availability:	1
# Local items:	1
Call Number:	811.6 Olivare, J Promises
# Local items in:	1
# System items in:	1
Current Holds:	0

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Publishers Weekly Review

In this moving second collection, Olivarez (Citizen Illegal) reflects on his Mexican identity through poems that explore platonic and romantic love, the joys of friendship and food, and the pain and loss at the heart of capitalist society. A "child of loss," Olivarez still believes in a salvation made possible by relationships and feeling, a world where "my friends show up unannounced & always welcome." Details grounded in the everyday world capture great fulfillment, such as "Hershey's Kisses," "hot Cheetos," "ramen noodle days," and tortillas "warmed on a comal." "aybe we could redefine kin," Olivarez proposes, and these poems make a strong case for that redefinition, revealing how close bonds are an antidote to the world's hardships. In one poem, the speaker details how their lover "kisses me on the cheek in a language/ that needs no translation." The poet's sensitive and insightful voice allows these stirring poems to successfully explore the forces acting on love in a complex world, and the unshakable promise of understanding and belonging. (Feb.)

Booklist Review

In a prefatory note to his glistening second poetry collection, Olivarez (Citizen Illegal, 2018) states his intention to dismantle colonial harm by questioning Spanish colonial values: "What is gold to us? What is holy to us? Where do we find glory?" Rather than retrace a history of conquistadors, Olivarez elevates small but notable moments through a sensitive, introspective speaker who must learn tough lessons on the streets of Calumet City. When a friend gets jumped for his sneakers: ""this is how we learned to be boys: / we kept everything we loved close by / & out of sight." But Olivarez also undercuts well-worn tropes of Mexican-American migration by offering glimmers of hope, such as "Poem Where No One Is Deported." The speaker even admits to hypocrisy; he knows that Mexico will always "be an oppressive nation state," yet still sends "Mexican flag emojis / to all the homies" when a popular Jaliscan boxer wins a match. The book includes a Spanish translation and bilingual readers will enjoy flipping back and forth to see how the prism of each poem changes its hue in the light of another language.

Summary

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
Named one of NPR's Books We Love

"How many bad lovers have gotten poems? How many crushes? No disrespect to romantic love-- but what about our friends ? Those homies who are there all along--cheering for us and reminding us that love is abundant."

In this groundbreaking collection of poems, José Olivarez explores every kind of love--self, brotherly, romantic, familial, cultural. Grappling with the contradictions of the American Dream with unflinching humanity, he lays bare the ways in which "love is complicated by forces larger than our hearts."

Whether readers enter this collection in English or via the Spanish translation by poet David Ruano González, these extraordinary poems are sure to become beloved for their illuminations of life--and love.

"¿Cuántas malas parejas han inspirado poemas? ¿Cuántos crush es? Sin faltarle el respeto al amor romántico--pero ¿qué hay de los amigos? Esos compas que están ahí todo el tiempo--animándonos y recordándonos que elamor es abundante".

En esta innovadora colección de poemas, José Olivarez explora cada tipo de amor--el propio, fraternal, romántico, familiar, cultural. Lidiando con las contradicciones del sueño americano, con una humanidad inquebrantable, deja al descubierto las maneras en que "el amor se va complicando por fuerzas más grandes que nuestros corazones".

Ya sea que los lectores entren a esta colección en inglés o a partir de la traducción al español del poeta David Ruano González, estos extraordinarios poemas serán amados seguramente por sus iluminaciones sobre el amor y la vida.

Table of Contents

	Author's Note	1
	Translator's Note	5
I	Folk Tales
1	Tradition	13
2	Folk	14
3	Love Poem Beginning with Yellow Cab	15
4	Wealth	16
II	Ojalá Ojalá Ojalá
1	Ode to Tortillas	19
2	Nation of Domination	21
3	In the Dream	22
4	Bulls v. Suns, 1993	23
5	Another Cal City Poem	24
6	Ojalá: My Homie	25
7	Upward Mobility	26
8	Regret or My Dad Says Love	27
9	Black & Mild	28
10	River Oaks Mall	29
III	Gold
1	Pedro Explains Magical Realism	33
2	Chosen	34
3	Fathers	35
4	An Almost Sonnet for My Mom's Almost Life	36
5	Poem with Corpse Flowers & No Corpses	37
6	It's Only Day Whatever of the Quarantine & I'm Already Daydreaming about Robbing Rich People	38
7	Poem with a Little Less Aggression	40
8	Maybach Music	41
9	Card Declined	42
10	Middle Class in this MF	43
11	Canelo Álvarez is the Champ	44
12	Bad Mexican Sonnet	46
13	Poem Where No One is Deported	47
IV	Untranslatable
1	American Tragedy	51
2	Cal City Winter	53
3	On the Signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement	54
4	Ojalá: Me & My Guys	55
5	Poetry is Not Therapy	56
6	Before We Got Comfortable Saying Love, We Dapped	57
7	Ojalá: I Hate Heartbreak	58
8	Haram	59
9	Healing	60
10	More, Please	61
11	Two Truths & A Lie	62
V	Receding
1	Pedro Gets Asked about His Big Brother	65
2	Happening Sonnet	66
3	Authenticity	67
4	Loyalty	68
5	Poem Where I Learn to Eat Escargot	69
6	Some Words Look Nice Until You try Them On	70
7	Wherever I'm at that Land is Chicago	71
VI	Ojalá Ojalá Ojalá
1	Nate Calls Me Soft	75
2	Love Poem (Feat. Chani Nicholas)	76
3	All the Names We Say Because We Don't Say Love	77
4	Cal City Love Poem	78
5	Most	79
6	Mercedes Says She Prefers the Word "Discoteca" to the Word "Club"	80
7	February & My Love is in Another State	81
8	Ugly	82
VII	God
1	Origin Story	85
2	In Calumet City	86
3	Now I'm Bologna	87
4	My Sociology	88
5	No Time to Wait	89
6	Mercedes Says Hyacinths Look Like Little Firework Shows	90
7	Miracle	91
8	Ruben's Poem	92
VIII	Before Monday Arrives Like a Fist
1	ARS Poetica	95
2	Eviction Notice	96
3	Moonshine	97
4	Llorar	98
5	United Enemies	99
6	Harlem Snapshot	101
7	Faq	102
8	Sunday Love	103
IX	Glory
1	Between US & Liberation	107
2	Escargot	108
3	Eating Taco Bell with Mexicans	109
4	Maybe God is Mexican	110
5	It's True	111
6	Despecho Hour at the Casa Azul Restaurante Y Cantina	112
7	Hopeful Cal City Poem	114
8	Mexican Heaven ("the mexicans said no thank you to heaven-")	115
X	Glory
1	Perder	119
2	Inspiration	120
3	I Walk into the Ocean	121
4	Roses & Lilies	122
5	Justice is for the Living	123
6	Mexican Heaven ("forget heaven & its promises of gold-")	124
XI	Glory
1	No more Sad Mexicans	127
2	Mexican Heaven ("when my uncle got to heaven")	129
3	Another Harlem Poem	130
4	Ojalá: Self-Love	131
5	Down to My Elbows	132
6	Rebuttal	133
7	Shelter Island	134
8	Let's Get Married	135
9	Related: The Sky is Dope	137
	Acknowledgments	139

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