The Singing Shark
by Rane Arroyo
Category: Poetry

In these poems, Rane Arroyo leads the reader on a journey through the kaleidoscopic contemporary world where Byron, Madonna, classical myth, and TV and movie culture interact. Along the way he offers a humorous and sometimes biting examination of popular images of Latinos -- from Don Juan to Desi Arnez to West Side Story -- as well as poignant reflections on two literary predecessors, William Carlos Williams and Reinaldo Arenas. With wit and intelligence he skewers Anglo perceptions of Latino masculinity and blurs the boundaries between high and low, straight and gay, Anglo and Latino cultures. Whether mocking, playful, or elegiac, the poems reveal a deep concern for the construction of personal and cultural identity in the midst of contradictory messages and expectations.