Black Blossoms

This third book of poetry by González, an award-winning Chicano writer equally at home in fiction (Crossing Vines) and children's literature, complements the male subjects of his Other Fugitives and Other Strangers by focusing on female bodies. The first part, "Mundo de Mujeres" (World of Women) poeticizes women on the fringe of society. Some lines conjure up graphic, arresting visions: "The heavy snow disrobes the landscape of its mountains." Or, from "Widows": "Don't you dare remove your black dress:/ the sound of a garment mourning the loss/ of your body's comfort will break our hearts." The second section, "Floreo," ostensibly develops the motif of flowers, more akin to those of Baudelaire than of Wordsworth. The six poems of the last section, "The Mortician Poems," emphasize the theme of death and violence hinted at in the beginning of the collection. The poems entertain a variety of stanzas, though most are couplets and tercets.