chants of nezahualcoyotl & obsidian glyph

The long poem chants of nezahualcoyotl poeticizes the role and meaning of poetry in pre-Columbian Aztec Mexico by focusing on the greatest of Nahuatl poets, Fasting Coyote. "Obsidian Glyph" is a collection of lyric meditations on the sacred rites and poetic practices of the Aztecs in the time of the Fifth Sun. The book includes a Nahuatl pronunciation key and an extensive glossary. For a sample poem click here.

1. ". . .próspero saíz is the poet-laureate of the pre-Columbian. . . . Chants of Nezahualcoyotl & Obsidian Glyph is filled with a terrible sense of regret and desperation. The old ways have been crowded out, massacred, buried: 'the basin of mexico a long time darkening / no longer by the misty dampness of Tlaloc / but by strange clouds / I feel but do not know / there is a burning without fire and light. . . the skin itches and the hair turns brittle.' (p. 69) . . . Saíz goes beyond lamenting about lost pre-Columbian glories into the center of pre-Columbian existentialism itself, the basic, fundamental sense of total ephemeralness. He is one of the most challenging writers to appear on the literary scene within recent memory."
   

2. - Hugh Fox, The Glass Cherry
   

Illustrated; sewn and wrapped in French Whitewash paper cover; 7" X 10"; 88 pages

ISBN: 0-941160-13-0 (regular edition)

ISBN: 0-941160-15-7 (limited edition of 50 signed & numbered by the poet)