Ixok amar·go : poesía de mujeres centroamericanas por la paz = Central American women's poetry for peace /

This superb anthology offers 240 poems by 58 women poets of Central America and Panama. The poetry is almost all of high quality, and the translations, presented opposite the original, are themselves works of art. Only a very few lines fail to capture the full meaning of the original. Most of the poems deal with present war and injustice in this region, so tormented since 1825 by militarism and by local and North American greed, but they transcend their origin and become metaphors for all injustice and suffering. One forgets the individual poets to the point that the book appears to become one long poem with many voices, speaking not only of war, but also of the quiet and profound realities of daily life. The book is beautifully produced and printed (remarkably, this viewer found only one typographical error), and a photograph and biographical sketch of each poet is provided. It is surely one of the most important contributions in recent years to our knowledge and understanding of Central America. College and university libraries.-C.E. Mace, Xavier University of Louisiana