Book Review:

Placing a CD of a poet reading his work in the back of a book of poems isn't a brand new idea, but it's still one worth noting. Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems by Juan Felipe Herrera, from The University of Arizona Press (2008), contains such a CD, and it adds much to the pleasure of reading the book.

Let Me Tell You What a Poem Brings

Before you go further,
let me tell you what a poem brings,
first, you must know the secret, there is no poem
to speak of, it is a way to attain a life without bounderies

—Juan Felipe Herrera

One of the challenges to reading any book of poems is trying to determine how the poems should sound. Regardless of what any poet in the past might have said about poetry being the news of the day, poetry does not read like a newspaper column. Voice is paramount.

Of course, not all poets read their work well. Anyone who has heard the recordings of T. S. Eliot reading The Waste Land should recognize this. (I frankly prefer Garrison Keilor's reading myself.) But Herrera, while he may be no Eliot, knows how to read his own work and does a fine job of it. And after listening to the CD, I found the book even more accessible than it already was.

Herrera is the son of migrant workers and was born in California in 1948. He's been publish poetry for nearly forty years in both Spanish and English. As one reviewer notes, a remarkable and important voice in American poetry. (Google for other links to the man and his work.)

Special thanks to The University of Arizona Press for including the CD.