A History of Echoes: Poems

Winner of the Gival Press Poetry Award

"Rodriguez' exquisite lyricism sweeps through Puerto Rican history to the present. Each poem in A History of Echoes is a singular gem, but the expanse of this book immerses the reader deep into a mythic realm where music and rhythm take over, carry us on a profoundly sensuous journey. A gourd bursting open releases an ocean, sea turtles emerge from a wound in a man's back, ships arrive with 'ugly, / upright animals [who] seemed//as gods, at first, ' men who speak 'ugly noise' and have 'buticaco eyes.' The horror of Spanish plunderers, visitations by gods to the contemporaries like the poet Julia de Burgos, and images of Puerto Rican freedom fighters seized my imagination and left me with awe for this book."

-Beverly Burch, judge & author of Leave Me a Little Want