Dusk & Dust

September 1, 2019
Rodr�guez's debut poetry collection is like a cinematic series of experiences and emotions. The struggles of immigration, separation, economic exile, and of being different, even among your own people?each of these themes is addressed in remarkable lines so carefully crafted they seem effortless. In Dogs, the poet's observation of stray, flea-infested dogs huddled in a crawl space beneath a house tragically echoes the sight of a struggling immigrant community, These are far from the Lassies trained for TV shows . . . nomads trudging through some bible desert. In Tamales, an exquisite poem about the seasonal rituals of community, food, and traditions crosses borders both physical and spiritual. With immigration, once again, a hot-button political and moral issue, especially at the U.S.-Mexico border, the setting for these lyrics about the search for freedom and home, Rodr�guez's powerful poems vividly remind readers that most of us in the U.S. are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. A grappling with suffering that reaches behind the headlines.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)