Promises of Gold -- José Olivarez, Hardcover

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.

Love is at the heart of everything we do, and yet it is often mishandled, misrepresented, or narrowly defined. In the words of José Olivarez: "How many bad lovers have gotten poems? How many crushes? No disrespect to romantic love--but what about our friends? Those homies who show up when the romance ends to help you heal your heart. Those homies who are there all along--cheering for us and reminding us that love is abundant."

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."

He writes, "For those of us who are hyphenated Americans, where do we belong? Promises of Gold attempts to reckon with colonial legacy and the reality of what those promises have borne out for Mexican descendants. I wrote this book to imagine and document an ongoing practice of healing--healing that requires me to show up for myself, my community, my friends, my family, and my loves every day."

Whether readers enter this collection in English or Spanish, these extraordinary poems are sure to become beloved for their illuminations of life--and love.

Author: José Olivarez
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Published: 02/14/2023
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.50w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9781250878496

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 12/19/2022
Booklist 02/01/2023 pg. 7