Jose Olivarez, David Ruano Promises of Gold

"A groundbreaking 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, Promises of Gold 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.""--
Written in English and combined with a Spanish translation, this stellar collection of poems, exploring many forms of love and how each is birthed, shaped and complicated by the invisible forces of gender, capitalism, religion and so on, serves as a reminder that love is abundant and worth experiencing. 80,000 first printing.