{"id":14764,"date":"2020-07-20T14:07:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T18:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/?page_id=14764"},"modified":"2024-12-03T12:18:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T17:18:48","slug":"the-life-assignment-by-ricardo-alberto-maldonado","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/the-life-assignment-by-ricardo-alberto-maldonado\/","title":{"rendered":"The Life Assignment by Ricardo Alberto Maldonado"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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paper \u2022 80 pages \u2022 16.95
ISBN-13: 978-1-945588-54-9<\/p>\n

Add to Cart<\/a><\/p>\n


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[column col=”3\/4″]<\/p>\n

The Life Assignment<\/em><\/h1>\n

Ricardo Alberto Maldonado<\/h2>\n

Finalist for the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award<\/a><\/h5>\n
Starred Review in Publishers Weekly<\/em><\/a><\/h5>\n
Featured in Remezcla’s 2020\u2019s Best Books by Latine or Latin American Authors<\/a><\/h5>\n

The speaker of the poems in The Life Assignment<\/em> is reviewing his history. As if combing through a box of photographs, the speaker sorts through relationships, trying to discern what was healthy from what was exploitative. Concepts of love are turned over and over in these poems: romantic love, love of family, love of country, self-love (or lack thereof). Often the speaker finds that what at first appeared to be caring was insincere all along. When tenderness is in short supply, how can one protect oneself? How can one find home? In his debut collection, Ricardo Alberto Maldonado bends poems through bilingual lyrics that present spartan observation as evidence for its exacting verdict, \u201cWe never leave when life is elsewhere. The clemency of men disappears \/ as does the light, tarring the roofs.\u201d An electric debut collection.<\/p>\n

from I Give You My Heart<\/em> Os doy mi coraz\u00f3n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

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I find myself on my feet with fifteen leaves.
Everything carries its own light on the walls.<\/p>\n

I woke up to slaughter, my heart opening
to cemeteries of moon\u2014<\/p>\n

the parasites, the drizzle. The mud crowning
the undergrowth with immense sadness.<\/p>\n

Me encuentro de pie con quince hojas.
Brilla todo en los muros.<\/p>\n

Despert\u00e9 en su sacrificio: mi coraz\u00f3n se abr\u00eda
entre cementerios de luna\u2014<\/p>\n

los par\u00e1sitos, la llovizna. El lodo coronando
la maleza con mustios grandes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The speaker of the poems in The Life Assignment<\/em> is reviewing his history. As if combing through a box of photographs, the speaker sorts through relationships, trying to discern what was healthy from what was exploitative. Concepts of love are turned over and over in these poems: romantic love, love of family, love of country, self-love (or lack thereof). Often the speaker finds that what at first appeared to be caring was insincere all along. When tenderness is in short supply, how can one protect oneself? How can one find home? In his debut collection, Ricardo Alberto Maldonado bends poems through bilingual lyrics that present spartan observation as evidence for its exacting verdict, \u201cWe never leave when life is elsewhere. The clemency of men disappears \/ as does the light, tarring the roofs.\u201d An electric debut collection.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>About the Author<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[column col=”1\/4″] paper \u2022 80 pages \u2022 16.95ISBN-13: 978-1-945588-54-9 Add to Cart [\/column][column col=”3\/4″] The Life Assignment Ricardo Alberto Maldonado Finalist for the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award Starred Review in Publishers Weekly Featured in Remezcla’s 2020\u2019s Best Books by Latine or Latin American Authors The speaker of the poems in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14764","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14764"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20469,"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14764\/revisions\/20469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}