"The Selected Poems of Rosario Castellanos" is a bilingual collection of the work of this important woman poet of Mexico. This is a bilingual edition, with Castellanos' Spanish originals and the English versions on facing pages. The poems have been translated by Magda Bogin, who co-edited the volume with Cecilia Vicuna.

Castellanos' work has a somber, introspective quality. Many of her poems are about death, pain, or sadness. Many of her lines demonstrate a rather dark world view. Example: "We give life only to what we hate" (from "Destiny"). Her language is at times romantic and sensuous, at times cynical: "Don't trust a man in love: he's hungry, / all he wants is to devour" (from "Celestina's Advice"). She sometimes uses memorable imagery: "On the lips of the wind I shall be called / a tree of many birds" ("Two Poems").

I found Castellanos' poetry to have a psychological quality that reminded me of the work of two other Latin American women poets: Julia de Burgos (Puerto Rico) and Alfonsina Storni (Argentina). Those interested in Latin American poetry should seek out this volume.

John Bierhorst, the translator of this volume, is a translator whose work I trust. In this bi- and tri-lingual text, he has justified my confidence in him.

The poets translated in the volume have a varied amount of "Indian-ness" - some speak the Indian language of the group with which they identify, some do not. The poems themselves range from poems that show a non-Spanish aesthetic to those that are openly "Spanish" in some sense. For example, a poem by Jaime Luis Huenun is titled "After Reading So Much Cesar Vallejo", and three poems of Graciela Huinao remind me of the sparseness of haiku.

My favorite of the poets in Elicura Chihuailaf whose poems center around blue - a color with strong ties to the Indian culture. These poems are perhaps the most Indian, but the poems are universal in the depiction of humanity and its relationship to the rest of nature while being accessible and particular in terms of images.

These poems are well worth your time.

She combines the source of languages and modern linguistics to create a sacred wordplay, a place of sensuality... with some small lapses concerning the reality of ecological disaster (the worst of the book without any doubt). Overall though, it is well worth reading, especially for readers of both Spanish and English.