Colcha In Colcha,
Aaron Abeyta blends the contrasting rhythms of the English
and Spanish languages, finding music in a simple yet
memorable lyricism without losing the complexity and mystery
of personal experience. His forty-two poems take the reader
on a journey through a contemplative personal history that
explores communal, political, and societal issues as well as
the individual experiences of family and friends. With his
distinctive voice, Abeyta invites people of all cultures to
enter his poems by exploring the essence of humanity as
expressed by his particular Hispanic culture and
heritage. Marked by
intimacy and deep sentiment, Colcha not only acquaints us
with the land of Abeyta's people, but also reveals the
individuals from his life and family history in the most
colorful and delicate detail. We meet his abuelitos
(grandparents) in poems such as "colcha" and "3515 Wyandot,"
and hear of their connection to the tierra and its seasons,
their labor and its bounty presented both viscerally and
lovingly. We also meet the nameless people: the rancheros
and the herders and the farmers, the locals in their pick-up
trucks, and the women who make the tortillas. Abeyta's
reflections on the plight, loves, joys, failures, and
exploitation of the common person in such poems as "cuando
se secan las acequias," "untitled (verde)," and "cinco de
mayo" belong to the literary heritage of such poets as Pablo
Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca, and Walt Whitman. Colcha is not
just for those who love poetry, but for all people who wish
to be moved by the music of language and, while listening,
perhaps to gain some personal insight into their own lives
and cultural traditions. "The natural
voice at work in this poetry sings of one human life as if
it were our own. I loved listening." -Rita
Kiefer, author of Nesting Doll "Abeyta comes
at us with a lyric woven with an accessible line,
grandfather stories, the earth, it's people in a circle of
histories and Zen-like mediations. His voice is
mountain-warm, river-light and shimmers as an ice-diamond,
then dissolves into a great arc of personal existence, open,
free and stark. He weaves the sharp craft of Gary Soto with
the 'resolana' tones of Burciaga, Sagel, and Montoya, yet he
is a snow country philosopher of and for 'el pueblo,'
wearing a infinite blanket of red-brown and blue night
voices, this Colcha." -Juan
Felipe Herrera University
Press of Colorado Aaron
A. Abeyta Aaron Abeyta
is a poet who was born and raised in the San Luis valley of
southern Colorado. In 1998 he won the Colorado Council on
the Arts Fellowship for Poetry, and also has won the Grand
Prize from the Academy of American Poets, for his poem
"colcha." His poems have been published in The Dry Creek
Review, Sage Plains Review, Chokecherries, and other
literary journals. He is Professor of English at Colorado
State University.
5589 Arapahoe Road, Suite 206C
Boulder, CO 80303
Return to Before Columbus' American Book Awards 2002